Sun Ra: "Afro Futurism" and his alternative to the Black Panther Party... A PBS Passport show.

In the late sixties, the jazz band leader Sun Ra went to Oakland and made a movie interviewing teenagers about his belief that "Afro Futurism" was a much better path to travel than the Black Panther Party... 

While I believe that he was mistaken... Just the fact that he was asking those questions was revolutionary...

What exactly was "Afro Futurism" ??? Basically... Form your own religion with you as the leader and make a commune where all the musicians in the band live together and share everything... While exploring science fiction themes... And he owned his own business... He had a record company that manufactured discs, made movies and played concerts... Total freedom for a black man... No longer a Slave... Not even a wage Slave... 

He inspired George Clinton - Parliament Funkadelic... And Frank Zappa...

Okay that's great for one guy but... I doubt that that would be practical for teenagers in Oakland in the late sixties... But he was making them think!

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/sun-ra-do-the-impossible-documentary/37455/

I'm a big fan of Sun Ra because I played outer space synthesizer music with my friends every Saturday night for 5 years... Sometimes the jam sessions would last till Dawn... And we had a laser light show... Marijuana... Random players... It was quite a trip!