Black Gold

“Not One Drop”

Written by A. Sayeeda Clarke, this episode, called “White,” on the online show, Futurestates, is an appropriate and frightening story for our times with discussions on climate change, global warming and our dependency on oil and coal. Will melanin become the new “black gold” in the future? Will brown people be exploited again, especially the politically, socially and economically disenfranchised, in order to get it?

Synopsis: “It’s another 120-degree day with five more days to Christmas and hot is the only season left in New York City. Global warming has accelerated and the sun has become a tangible threat to survival. Bato and his wife Gina are expecting a baby, but they weren’t expecting it so early. Although they planned to have the baby at home, Gina now requires the services of a clinic for the premature delivery. With no money for the clinic, Bato enters into a race against the sun, the birth, his community, and even his own identity to save his family as he is forced to sell the new currency of this world.”