by SCOTT C

Watching the interviews in James Spooner's engaging documentary, Afropunk: The Rock and Roll Nigger Experience, one can't help but be struck by the similarities and shared consciousness aired by a cross-section of American blacks in the punk subculture. Being the only black kid in a predominantly white punk scene, along with being a punk in the black community, is enough to double mark you as an outcast. Spooner, who was once part of the scene himself, uses the film to explore the impressions of black artists, musicians and fans who are used to being the only black face in the room most of the time. While the movie does have interviews with bands like Fishbone, and 24-7 Spyz, as well as a tip of the hat to Bad Brains, it's really the interviews with the many no-name people who contribute, participate, and live a legitimate black experience in the punk scene that makes this an interesting watch. The Mirror spoke to director James Spooner over the phone from New York.

Mirror: Do you think that Western black society has tunnel vision in terms of its identity?

James Spooner: Sure, I mean black folks are continuously searching for their identity, and who and where they are, as well as what it all means. We get these ideas of what we are based on stereotypes of how white people have seen us, and there's still that slave mentality that people are trying to break.

M: I noticed on your Web site that you included a little direction asking journalists not to adopt the term Afro-punk, fearing that it would become a buzz word or be misrepresented somehow. Why did you do that?

JS: I've had people say "tell me about the Afro-punk movement," and basically, if there was a movement, I wouldn't have had to make the film that I did. If there was a movement, this movie wouldn't exist. This is about that one black kid in a small town somewhere that I could relate to. It's not like there's big posses of black punks hanging out together. I was afraid that once again the media would say whatever they wanted to and people would take it as truth.

M: I was very surprised at how much I personally shared with so many of the young black artists and personalities in the film, and found myself aligned with a lot of the stories that were being told. Did you just build on common ground that you found in a few people in the punk scene?

New York teen dream

JS: I had actually been out of the scene for a few years, and I was really angry with white America for making it so difficult to be into whatever I wanted to, and I decided to make the kind of movie that I would have liked to have seen when I was 14. I started talking to a few people that I knew from New York back in the day, and after my first interview, I felt like I owed it to that person to make and finish this movie. It actually became therapeutic for me...

M: Well, I'm sure you were amazed at how many people shared your story.

JS: I wasn't coming at it on a National Geographic level. I knew what questions to ask because those were the questions that I wished somebody had asked me.

M: It's funny because I was at a TV on the Radio show just last week here in Montreal, and even though the place was packed to the gills with people, I could count the black people in attendance on one hand. I hate to think of things in terms of 400 white people coming out to see a predominantly black rock band, but it makes me crazy. Where's the black crowd? Are white people ahead of the game?

JS: No (laughs). It's just marketing. If MTV turned around and decided they were going to put a lot of energy into promoting black artists that play guitars, I think within half a year it would be completely accepted. They choose what they want to get behind and push, y'know, and look where that has got us.

Afropunk: The Rock and Roll Nigger Experience screens tonight, April 22, at 6:30pm at the Concordia cinemas, as part of Vues D'Afrique. Additional screenings may follow, depending on demand. Info: www.vuesdafrique.org

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