The theme for the annual conference is “Our AfroFuture in the Crosshairs: Black Studies in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Big Tech, and the Cultural Wars.” In the 21st century, we must reckon with the intersections of the Africana experience and the future of technology.

As we continue to normalize our realities in the era of a perpetual pandemic, it is incumbent upon us as scholars of Black Studies to ponder the challenges that AI, Big Tech, and the culture wars pose for black people, our world, and our intellectual discipline. A juxtaposition of DeSantis’ attack on Black Studies (slavery had positive benefits for us, banning the new Africana Studies AP course, etc.) on the East Coast to the valuing of Ethnic Studies and our discipline on the West Coast has situated the discipline in the “crosshairs.”

The year 2024 marks the 35th anniversary of the song “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy. Although the song and the group are deeply embedded in our collective memory (Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do Right Thing) as a symbol of social activism and engagement, it is also important that we pay attention to Public Enemy’s visual aesthetic – the iconic crosshairs logo. The logo portrays a silhouette of an African American in the crosshairs of a gunsight; the personification of state sanctioned violence against Black Americans. Likewise, Black Studies has found itself, once again, a target of political surveillance and violence at the local, state, and national levels.