When thinking about why I decided to create this comic I remember an incident in High School. When I was in ninth grade we had an entire unit in Humanities class dedicated to learning about world religions. In what our school thought was an inclusive discussion on world faiths and their impact on society and world history, our class learned about multiple denominations of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hindusim and a host of other “Major Religions”. Not one African or African derived faith was included in our studies. We learned about how these faiths shaped the history and worldview of each of the societies in which they were practiced. They even invited practitioners of each of these faiths to the school to share their beliefs and experiences with us. I remember hating that assignment. I remember with my teenage indignation handing in every annotated bibliography a week late. I remember every sneer and side-eye I gave my teacher as she chastised me on the importance of the project. I remember confronting her about omitting African based faiths from her curriculum and her looking at me with her condescending white lady smile and selling me the same tired brand of bullshit I heard from well meaning white ladies my whole life “we need to focus on MAJOR religious traditions during this course” We wouldn't be able to find any practitioner of African based faiths in Boston to speak meaningfully about their faith” This lady who taught mostly Black and/or Latino students (most of which were from the Caribbean) looked me dead in my mouth and told that boldfaced lie. In a unit that that focused on how religious philosophy shapes our perspectives, narratives and experiences she didn’t think it was important to at least try to expose us to even ONE of the myriad of African based faiths that had shaped the experiences of Afro-descended peoples throughout the diaspora. I’m making Itan: Part one for fifteen year old me. I’m making the book I needed read with the images I needed to see, because I know there are young people out there that need it too. I can’t fix a racially biased education systems singlehandedly, but with your help I can make this book. With your help I can expose people to a small portion of the infinite complexity that is Yoruba thought and aesthetics, one of the great traditions of the thousands of philosophical traditions of the African continent. If schools and media don’t want to tell our stories we can tell them ourselves! We can acknowledge and uplift them ourselves! We have the power to create, uplift and validate our own, history, and our own experiences. Support Itan: Part 1 Today visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/itan-part-one-africa-art/x/15991312#/. If you can’t donate then help spread the word. Thank You
