BLACK PUNK NOW

A multifaceted look, in several genres, at the places where Black people and punk rock meet.

The present subversive and creative collection, write Spooner and Terry, is “a holistic definition of Black punk where every piece stands on level ground.” That level ground comes about in part because of the democratizing ethos of punk rock and its intersections—and punk is nothing but intersectional—in Afro-punk, queer punk, and many other musical and artistic streams. As an interlocutor named Shawna puts it, “I have friends across diasporas,” and those diasporas come together in meaningful, liberated ways to create art, music, zines, poetry, and more. Bobby Hackney Jr., a contributor and a son of a player in the Detroit Black proto-punk band Death, notes, “if you’re doing something that other people don’t understand and you still decide to do it, that’s punk to me.” The scene seems somewhat more segregated today, with fewer white-Black interactions, and then there are the usual musical divisions: Are you a punk if you love P-Funk? Hanif Abdurraqib answers, rightly, “The debate of what does or doesn’t make one ‘punk’ is the least interesting debate that can be had.” With graphics, short stories, poems, lyrics, conversations, commentary, and notes on how capitalism naturally tries to co-opt cultural scenes and how Black punks naturally resist it, the anthology is a cornucopia of righteous resistance, both fun to read and energetically provocative. One has to love any book that calls Creedence Clearwater Revival “this band that cosplayed as a Louisiana band” and includes a playlist daring enough to slot Stanley Clarke’s “Vulcan Princess” alongside songs from such bands as Death, Bad Brains, and Dag Nasty.

Great reading for punks of every persuasion, who, one hopes, will take it and change the world.