DoomsdaysCW<p>HT <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://kolektiva.social/@susurros" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>susurros</span></a></span> <br>What <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OctaviaButler" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>OctaviaButler</span></a> saw on Feb. 1, 2025, three decades ago</p><p>by Russell Contreras</p><p>Science fiction writer Octavia Butler wrote in her 1993 novel "<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ParableOfTheSower" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ParableOfTheSower</span></a>" that Feb. 1, 2025, would be a time of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fires" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fires</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/violence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>violence</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>racism</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/addiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>addiction</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a>, social <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/inequality" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>inequality</span></a> and an authoritarian "<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PresidentDonner" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PresidentDonner</span></a>."</p><p> That day is today.</p><p>The big picture: This Black History Month, which begins this year on a day of Butler's dystopian vision, Axios will examine what the next 25 years may hold for Black Americans based on the progress in the first quarter of this century.</p><p> Through her fiction, Butler foresaw U.S. society's direction and the potential for civil societies to collapse thanks to the weight of economic disparities and climate change — with blueprints for hope.<br> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Afrofuturist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Afrofuturist</span></a> writers today interpret Butler's work as metaphorical warnings that appear to be coming true and a call to action.</p><p>State of play: This year, the month-long celebration of Black American accomplishments and perseverance will be commemorated amid uncertainty after the Trump administration ordered government agencies to end DEI policies.</p><p> The move is confusing some agencies on whether Black history can even be acknowledged this year while the nation deals with rising hate crimes, the aftermath of California wildfires, a fentanyl epidemic and a new president who blames the country's ills on workforce diversity.<br> Meanwhile, states like Alabama have passed bills limiting the discussion of race and Black history in public schools. </p><p>Zoom in: In "Parable of the Sower," the novel's 15-year-old protagonist, Lauren Olamina, writes a simple journal entry: Saturday, February 1, 2025: "We had a fire today. People worry so much about fire."</p><p> What unfolds in the pages that follow is a dystopian world surrounding the gated, racially mixed, fictional community of Robledo, California.<br> A new drug forces addicts to set fires to communities, who then rob and rape victims. Unhoused people roam the streets and are forced to steal to survive. Hurricanes, fires and violence push Americans to flee north to Canada.<br> President Donner, like President Trump, promises to restore the country to its former glory.<br> Racially mixed couples, like Olamina's Black/Chicano family, are vulnerable to attacks, and her parents, both PhD holders, have limited job opportunities. </p><p>Yes, but: Black, white, Latino and Asian Americans fall in love despite the racism outside the walls.</p><p> They arm themselves and protect each other.<br> They share history and books in defiance of attempted erasure.</p><p>What they're saying: "She was trying to warn us of a possible future that she saw coming if we did not change," Jesse Holland, editor of the anthology, "Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson," tells Axios.</p><p><a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/02/01/octavia-butler-feb-1-2025-black-history-month" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">axios.com/2025/02/01/octavia-b</span><span class="invisible">utler-feb-1-2025-black-history-month</span></a><br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BlackHistoryMonth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BlackHistoryMonth</span></a></p>