The National Museum of African American History and Culture recently put an object representing Trayvon Martin’s memory on display in its “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures” exhibit.
But it isn’t his hoodie, Skittles, or Arizona tea, that often symbolize his death and the beginning of the Black Lives Matter era.
It’s his flight suit.
Trayvon dreamed of working in aviation, attending a seven-week program in 2009, volunteering, and taking classes at George T. Baker Aviation Technical College. He wore the suit while practicing take-off and landing with a flight simulator.
“The power of seeing his flight suit up close really has us thinking about the dreams Trayvon Martin had and the dreams that we all lost the day he was killed,” said NMAAHC Director Kevin Young.
Trayvon's suit forces us to reckon with the reality that could have been. A reality without anti-Black violence, where he would have flown around the world - or maybe even beyond. This is where Afrofuturism and abolition intersect.
Afrofuturism can help us model a future where the Black imagination can be realized without the threat of anti-Black policing, prisons, and vigilanteism. And not just the dreams of the killed.
What were you imagining in 2012? And through grief, memory, and political action, what steps can you take to make those dreams real in a liberated future?