Afro Optimism News Today

A chapter or so into Ayana Contreras' book “Energy Never Dies: Afro-Optimism & Creativity in Chicago,” it seems remarkable nobody has written this yet.

Muralist Lio Bumbakini may be based in Denver, but his work knows no borders. Born in Brussels in 1993 to parents whod uprooted their live s in the Congo for the sake of survival, Bumbakini proudly describes himself as a global citizen. “I’m a student of the world,” he says. “An ambassador of the world.” He’s not the only ambassador in his family. Bumbakini’s uncle is the current permanent representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United Nations; his mother ea...