This post is part of an ongoing #BlackFuturesMonth18 series in February with the Black Lives Matter Network, exclusively shared on Blavity, that aims to explore what the Black feminist future can and should look like for all of us.

This week we have a pair of artists that come from within our very own Black Lives Matter Global Network! They are both core members of their local chapters, and we are thrilled to present Syrus Marcus Ware from BLM Toronto and Funmilola Fagbamila from BLM LA! Syrus is a Vanier Scholar, a visual artist, community activist, researcher, youth-advocate and educator. Funmilola Fagbamila is a Nigerian American scholar, activist, playwright and artist. Funmilola's artistry is multifaceted, and includes spoken word and hip-hop.

Check out the text of Funmilola's poem, "Black Girl Fly" below, and watch the video to witness Syrus' incredible art, and to experience their collaboration envisioning a Black Feminist Future. 

"Black Girl Fly"

Poem by Funmilola Fagbamila

Artwork by Syrus Marcus Ware

Imagine little black girl maybe 9 maybe 10

She solemly swears to herself she will win

She will write her thoughts

She will read them loud

She will speak her mind

She’ll be black and proud

She gonna light up the world with a futuristic vision

About what our world would look like if we fought for abolition

Of the systems that are founded on a mass superstition

That demand that our minds and bodies are imprisoned

Yes – she gonna do all that

But in order to do that she has to dodge the things that hold her back

Like assumptions made about who she is

And what she should do and how she should live

Like be a good girl, and don’t make no noise

And go play wit barbies and these pink ass toys

And your strength is not match for the strength of the boys

And she knows that ignorance given power destroys

But she won’t be held back

No she won’t do that

Yes she will push through

That’s what black girls do

And she has no limit

She exceeds the sky

She is strength and power

That you can’t deny

She will challenge authority

No she won’t comply

She will change the world

Yes she will go high

And I’ll be shading my eyes as I look in the sky

What I see in the clouds? – that young black girl fly.