Afro-punk refers to the participation of African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

s and other black people

Black people

The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

 in the punk

Punk subculture

The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...

 and alternative music

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 cultures. Afro-punks make up a minority

Minority group

A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...

 in the North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n punk scene. However, they represent a majority in the punk culture in predominantly black regions of the world that have burgeoning punk communities, such as in parts of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. There are many punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 bands with black members, and several with lineups that are all black.

Notable bands that can be linked to the Afro-punk community include: Death

Death (punk band)

Death was a garage rock and punk rock demo band formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1971 by the brothers Bobby , David , and Dannis Hackney. The African American trio started out as an R&B band but switched to rock after seeing an Alice Cooper show...

, Pure Hell

Pure Hell

Pure Hell was one of the earliest all Black punk-rock bands, established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1974, during the high point of punk culture in New York City, London and Los Angeles....

, Bad Brains

Bad Brains

Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...

, Suicidal Tendencies

Suicidal Tendencies

Suicidal Tendencies is a U.S. crossover thrash band founded in 1981 in Venice, Los Angeles, California by Mike Muir, its leader and only permanent member. The band is sometimes credited as one of "the fathers of crossover thrash"...

, Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys

Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....

, Reagan Youth

Reagan Youth

Reagan Youth is an American punk rock band formed by singer Dave Rubinstein and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens, New York in early 1980. They are known for introducing the style of hardcore punk to the East Coast punk scene, but were also a part of the peace punk movement...

, Fishbone

Fishbone

Fishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s...

, Wesley Willis Fiasco

Wesley Willis Fiasco

The Wesley Willis Fiasco was an American punk rock band based in Wicker Park, Chicago, Illinois.-History:The band was formed by Wesley Willis on vocals, Pat Barnard on lead guitar, and his friend Dale Meiners on guitar and bass. Dale Meiners previously played guitar in Billy Corgan's pre-Smashing...

, Suffrajett

Suffrajett

Suffrajett is a United States rock band from New York, currently based in Chicago, Illinois, composed of singer/violinist Simi Sernaker, guitarist Jason Chasko, bassist Kevin Roberts, and drummer Danny Severson. Suffrajett has toured with Local H, The Last Vegas, and Bob Schneider, and have opened...

, The Templars

The Templars (band)

The Templars are an Oi! band formed in Long Island, New York in April 1991.Originally composed of black and white skinhead members, their musical influences include Oi!, punk, glam rock, and rock and roll. They have tended to purposely use low-quality recording techniques...

, Santigold, and Time Again

Time Again

Time Again is a band from Hollywood, California which is represented in the bands songs and album art. The band was formed in the summer of 2004 by Daniel Dart, Elijah Reyes. Before they even had a full band or a single song written, they began printing stickers and flyers for Time Again to heavily...

. Afro-punk has become a movement, comparable to the grassroots

Grassroots

A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...

 punk-related movements of the gay community

Gay community

The gay community, or LGBT community, is a loosely defined grouping of LGBT and LGBT-supportive people, organizations and subcultures, united by a common culture and civil rights movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality...

 in queercore

Queercore

Queercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay, bisexual, and lesbian communities and their "oppressive agenda"...

, and of women in the riot grrrl

Riot grrrl

Riot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement based in Washington, DC, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest which existed in the early to mid-1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism...

 scene.

External links

• Afro-Punk Online website Crucial Afro-Punk page made from the film. Crucial Afro-Punk community page.
• Afro-Punk Online Community
• Afro-Punk at Last.fm
  Last.fm
  Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
  
  
• Afro-Punk Scene Explodes Into A Multi-Genre Movement
• 10 crucial moments in black rock history
• Truly Indie Fans NYTimes
  The New York Times
  The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
  
  article about the Afro-Punk culture movement
• Bold As Love--Black rock and the new Black imagination
• Black Punk Time: Blacks in Punk, New Wave and Hardcore 1976-1983

http://www.thegrio.com/travel-and-leisure/sxsw-a-good-day-to-be-black-and-alternative.php

• Video of Afro-Punk 2010