Dear Rufus,

It has been years after the end of my travel back to your period of time, and I hope you rest in everlasting peace. The last time I saw you, the whole thing was a total disaster, and I apologize for whatever I’ve done to you. I hope you understand that all these had to be done for my own critical survival. I still remember all of those mindful, heartfelt conversations between us too, despite all the lies and violence, and I now would like to share with you how life has been after you were gone.

Weeks ago I was able to resume my time-traveling ability, unlike the previous journeys, this time I have been able to time-travel to the future to 2020, a time that both of us couldn’t possibly envision. Everything has been so different even to me, and it shall be harder for you to adapt. After days of trials of errors, I was able to master some basic technology and then I found a class on the Scalar site. The college course centers around race, class, gender and some other factors that are woven throughout human history, and had led to the fight between us. I was first drawn to the class’ discussions and projects, being able to grasp the story Kindred, which is definitely ours. Thus I witnessed how generations after us interpreted our story, and categorized it as an afrofuturist work. It did take me extra research to figure out what exactly does afrofuturism mean, since it’s a word not invented in our times. It saddens me seeing how our people’s struggle still continues till this day, but some of the projects have been such inspiration to me. For Praxis #1, I went through various group pages and was touched via learning how our brothers and sisters resist and resile in non-violent, peaceful approaches, through fashion, art, music and so on. Similar to how afrofuturist works have raised people awareness and opened up unprecedented possibilities for our people to envision, these rallies, protests, and movements deliver such power messages that call for togetherness. Speaking of togetherness, I traced down those students’ references and resonated with Audre Lorde’s point about intersectionality, as well as Hooks’ communal love. Despite all the conflicts between groups that are not yet resolved, I truly consider this era better than both of ours, for its inclusiveness and call for understanding. It was also something that I was able to learn during my time travels to the past, when I was able to see things in an entirely different perspective and flip my own viewpoints. Though I indeed hated the notion of plantations, I learned that there can be pros and cons and that they weren’t entirely bad, for it had united so many families and helped them go through times of fear and insecurity. I would say that people living in this time period are somewhat privileged, with these many perspectives already archived and included for them to learn from, to develop their own values and worldview.

In addition, it has been eye-opening to see how the students connected class materials with their projects. I’ve seen a Praxis #2 project analyzing the role of digital media in sexual harassment and its confrontation, and it reminded me of Hooks’ “letting go of fear” seeing the interviewee drew on her own vulnerabilities in order to break free from them, which then also reminded me of one other impressive class material, the documentary Sonita. Seeing how this muslim girl sang to reveal the darkness of child marriage, from a female victim’s perspectives, I cannot help but reflect on all the violence based on sex I either witnessed or experienced during my previous time travels to your time period, and I admire how young women such as @Muhelos and Sonita who were able to fight knowing that uncovering their scars can be uncomfortable. Furthermore, it was fascinating to review our experiences from the future, as segments of history. History had been something that I both wanted to maintain (by saving you for multiple times in order to keep my ancestral line) and to change (by helping several slave families on your plantation to flee to the north). While browsing the same student’s Praxis #3 week two entry, I saw how history has been viewed so vital and how archiving history from different angles avoids distorted truths and single stories as well. This was again something that resonated a lot with my experience, when I strove to forge a free paper but couldn’t find any references out of historical documents. It lit up my hope seeing how generations after us were able to realize and were ready to confront this problem.

Though they were indeed traumatic, I’ve grown to value my time travels now, after learning from the future, and I guess wounds would always recover and it’s only a matter of time. I once was filled with anger and hatred towards you, but I guess there’s blame to share, so I wouldn’t say that there wasn’t any attachment between us too. I saved you and developed a bond with you not only because you were my ancestor and thus vital to my own survival, I trusted you seeing the possibilities in you, that you could eventually grow and become someone different from your dad if I guided you through. You had been such a self-contradicting character, and I guess all of us are, too. 

Yours,

Dana