Living Outside the Box with James Spooner

The scene might seem typical. It’s an ordinary Friday night. You wait outside the punk rock club in line with the rest of the fans in anticipation of seeing your favorite hardcore group. You pay your money, receive your stamp on your hand and head into a small, dark club filled with the smell of sweat and beer you have grown to love! That smell signifies a great evening ahead. All the while as you take in the scene you feel or think you feel all eyes on you with the same perplexing question, “what are you doing here?” This is the part of the evening that is typical for punk and metal fans who happen to be African American. The stare, the puzzled look, maybe even the gutsy, “so how did YOU get into THIS type of music?” It comes with the territory when you happen to be a black rock fan. Being a black rock fan/musician myself, it has been at times, a funny anecdote, an annoyance, a cross to bear and a burden to ignore. No matter how hard folks try, we still seem satisfied to keep people in specific categories or boxes. We do this, not out of spite but because it seems to just make life easy or so we think. Whites seem perplexed by one or two blacks in the middle of the mosh at a punk show and many blacks still see punk rock and rock music in general as white boy territory where they need not tread. Add the sad reality of a small neo-Nazi element in the world of punk and living outside the box becomes a difficult thing to do especially when guitars ands amps cranked up to ten speaks more to you than getting jiggy with it!

Thirty-year old, bi-racial film director James Spooner has been turning heads both black and white, living outside the box nearly all his life and his documentary Afro-Punk literally destroys the boxes and rules that pertain to what some individuals assume is the authentic African American experience. Spooner’s documentary looks at the history of and the present day experience of blacks in the world of punk rock. Through dozens of interviews with young punks and veteran rockers such as Angelo Moore (Fishbone) Jimi Hazel (24-7 Spyz) seminal hardcore act Bad Brains and more, Spooner unveils a sub-culture within a sub-culture by exposing another side of the punk rock scene seldom talked about. No stone is left un-turned in the film and issues such as both whites and blacks perception of punk music, alienation and interracial dating in the punk scene are addressed with an earnest and thoughtful approach. Some of the more compelling scenes deal with the alienation black punkers feels from both whites and blacks as they deal with a precarious balancing act between, race, perception and a music scene that speaks to them. James is very frank and direct when he is asked why so many black folks view punk rock and rock music in general as a “whites only” genre. “It’s clear that some folks just don’t know or understand their own history…they only know what they see and what the media gives them. We do have a bit of tunnel vision when it comes to what is authentically black. We also use this as a defense mechanism…way back when their were black folks who could pass for white and did, so nowadays when someone says hey your are trying to be white, it’s done to sort of check that person, to see if that person knows who they really are…over time this can have a negative affect on you.” When asked to explain what prompted him to make this film James simply states, “My life…this documentary is my life story. I got into the punk scene in at an early age because I was a skateboarder…after sometime however, I had given up on the punk scene and I felt like something was missing from my life…I realized I didn’t know enough about my own heritage and that the punk rock scene, the music that raised me was not addressing issues of race. It dealt with animal rights and the environment but not racial issues…I started to become very angry at the punk scene and at white America in general! I knew the answers when it came to race…the typical, we are all the same, and we all bleed red, we are all human. I knew those answers but I didn’t know how to get to the questions until I started to make this film. One of the things I wanted to prove with this film was that the black experience in punk rock may not be the typical African American experience but it is just as valid as any other African American experience and it is real!

With no experience in film making James raised $1000 thanks to a benefit show and the rest of the finances came from his own credit card. “I had never done anything like this before and I did not want to have to spend most of my time writing grants to fund the film. If the lighting or the angle of the shot was not perfect…I just had to be realistic on what I could do and if it didn’t turn out perfect I could just say, hey it’s punk rock!!” Perfect or not the film has had wide appeal and sparked an “Afro-Punk movement” in New York and New Jersey. “The reaction to the film has been positive”, James says. “Black kids have been really thankful; almost to the point of tears…many said this is something they really needed. A lot of white kids have come to me and told me how they have been in the scene for many years and never thought about these issues before…my hope is that when they see the film they will take the lead in owning up to their own white privilege and also try to create and promote the idea of racial equality in the scene and in society in general.” When asked to comment on the scene that this movie has spawned, James cautiously replies, “I was very adamant about NOT wanting to marginalize these kids anymore…I don’t want “Afro-Punk” to become a buzz word like grunge. I don’t want this to become a fad. Before it gets away from me I do want to guide it, so it does not have to be a specific sound or style. The kids are the ones making this scene a reality not the media and that’s important.”

James is keeping busy with screenings of the film happening all over the country. A DVD of the film is now out along with a compilation cd featuring many of the bands from the movie. When asked if he can quantify what has been “mainstream Black America’s” reaction James thinks for a bit and replies, “I was interviewed by BET and the movie got a good review from BET. I have made it a point to have the film screened at almost every Black film festival in the country. At times it has been seen as a bit of a novelty….”oh that’s really nice, wow that’s new”. Many times at the screenings when I get a chance to talk to folks about it one of two reactions comes to the surface…black folks can either identify with the black kids in the film who have felt alienated or they identify as the person who has actually made people feel alienated! That’s the best way I can describe the reaction so far from black folks who are new to the punk scene and the idea of Afro-Punks”. Mr. Spooner is also responsible for putting on Afro-Punk shows and festivals on the east coast. With all of these projects underway he has found it difficult to do the editing on his second film “White Lies, Black Sheep”. “My latest film is in the can but I do need to edit it and at this point I am wearing many hats!” Spooner explains that his next film is the story of a young Black kid’s struggle with identity. “It’s a kids journey on figuring out how to love himself”, states James. This latest film sounds like a bit of James’ life coming into play again especially when he relates what he learned from making a film like Afro-Punk. “The biggest thing I learned from making this documentary was how to be comfortable with myself…I learned how to love myself. For the longest time I did not want to acknowledge that I was bi-racial…I wanted things to be easy for me. The film helped me with my relationship with my mother and father. I put on an Afro-Punk event in New Jersey not too long ago…The crowd was mostly black, the bands were playing and my mom (who is white) came to the event. It was her first time coming to one of my events and we walked around and I introduced her to everyone. That would never have happened three years ago. The movie was like therapy for me…it really helped create the questions I needed to lead me to the answers I already had…it has made me a better person.” James explains that after making this film he can actually look at all of his experiences both positive and negative in the punk scene and feel thankful and blessed. “I am thankful for the punk scene and what it gave me, I am thankful for the white kid who called me nigger at a punk show. I am thankful for it all…all of it, good and bad has shaped me. This is a chapter in my life that I can say is now closed.” When asked what the future holds for this auteur, James replies, “For now I want to finish my next film and keep on promoting these shows and this scene and keep on bringing happiness to people.”

James Spooner’s Afro-Punk film will continue to bring happiness to kids and also spark real thought and dialog along the way. More than just about music and race Afro-Punk challenges all who see it to break the rules that have been established for us and to flatten the boxes we sometimes put each other in. See the film, open your mind and answer the challenge of Afro-Punk!

For more information on the Afro-Punk documentary, log on to www.afropunk.com.

By

David Carr