Left: James Spooner, co-creator of Afropunk Festival and co-editor of Black Punk Now. Right: Black Punk Now cover art.

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Left: James Spooner, co-creator of Afropunk Festival and co-editor of Black Punk Now. Right: Black Punk Now cover art.

PR Agency

More than a decade since she last dabbled in the Black punk scene, host B.A. Parker heads to a show in Brooklyn and is reminded of something she read recently: “What is more liberating than a mosh pit full of smiling Black faces?” The quote comes from James Spooner, the co-creator of the Afropunk music festival.

In this week’s Code Switch, Parker talks to James about what it means to be a Black punk, and about how the Black punk community continues to create its own space, despite the mainstream coming in to corporatize and cash in on their cache. Now, he and co-editor Chris L. Terry have released an anthology called, Black Punk Now.

This episode was also produced by Xavier Lopez and engineered by Josephine Nyounai.