What Is Next For Us?

18 year old Nubia Assata's follows up to her authorial debut Silent Screams with new book What Is Next For Us? Delivering radical Black thought for the Gen-Z audience

Now the dust has settled from 2020's focus on BLM, what material change do you think has been achieved as a result of it?

Unsurprisingly, not enough. Unfortunately BLM is an example of reactionary politics and inadvertently due to the nature of its re-emergence in 2020 being across social media due to the pandemic, its efficiency did not/does not transcend beyond social media sensationalism. What it did achieve was on the surface level it enforced a form of pseudo-accountability that corporations and institutions could not avoid, but did not have to live up to due to the unthreatening undercurrent of the “movement”. BLM in reality lacks the true movement and physical progression it assumes as instead of moving, it reacts. What I do acknowledge is that Black Lives Matter filled a political void that has existed since the breakdown of effective radical Black political activity during the latter end of the 20th century, however on its own its usefulness is limited as if a political concept is not threatening enough to the status quo it lacks true utility against the system it claims to oppose. Unfortunately BLM being reactionary means that it relies on external actions, and re-accelerates in response to an event as opposed to persistently functioning in the framework, flaring up in paroxysms instead of functioning on its own accord. 

It'll be covered more in the book, but what are some of the most obvious limitations of Black liberation in your mind?

In the West there are: Diaspora wars and barriers to entry. Whereas within the African continent: it is the lack of sentimental and economic  integration between governments. What this does is create a need to rely on former colonial powers for basic needs. Throughout the book you will see countless references to the term “collectivism’” and the lack of such is demonstrated in both the lack  of understanding between different members of the global Black diaspora. It is also shown in the gatekeeping within academic spaces that prevents young and non-academic members of our community from accessing and transforming spaces and discourses  that will determine our collective future. Progress cannot be manifested if these conversations are continuously populated by the same demographic of Black people… meaning old, academic and middle class. Meanwhile, global progress can not be manifested without a collectivist sense of like-mindedness that transcends beyond the colonists' invention that is the nation states we reside in and come from.  

The marketing surrounding this book feels distinctively Gen-Z. What is the importance of marketing literature specifically to this age range?

Because a movement doesn't move if a conversation doesn't grow. I have paid particular attention to my generation's mannerisms, and social dynamics in order to ensure my book was accessible and not intellectually intimidating. Collectivism means all of us or none of us and so casting a wider net means bringing members of our people who have been consistently excluded from a conversation right into it and making political concepts accessible but still challenging. I had to be understanding. I even cut down the word count from 45,000 to just over 20,000 as I did not want to add to a shelf of pre-existing books. Gen Z is obsessed with aesthetics and thus I had to ensure that the cover was bright, attractive and unassuming, that my shoots were done in film and not digital. I had to ensure that the dimensions of the book were small enough to throw in a tote bag or a telfar and that topical sections within the book were well compartmentalised to adjust to our shorter attention spans. So much thought went into everything. Ultimately the truth is that some of my closest friends are in prison whilst some study at Oxbridge or do medicine. I have grown up in a multitude of environments and thus I wanted my target market to represent that. My objective was to redesign academia and political discourse. 

What gives you optimism for the future of the global Black diaspora?

Via social media I have noticed a re-emergence of mutual respect and intent of understanding each other within the diaspora. Whether that is simply being afrobeats played and Jamaican independence celebrations or seeing our attempt to learn each other's languages whether that be Twi, Patois, Yoruba, Lingala, Creole or Swahili. Likewise on an intercontinental paradigm we can see a similar sentiment with Ghana enabling easy visa acquisition for members of the Caribbean or the developments in economic integration within the African continental free trade area. Things are happening but we must do all we can to facilitate their trajectory and to ensure it's a positive one.