“Backwards Never, Forward Ever”
At the Fourth Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) at the United Nations, Rev. Dr. Iva Carruthers, General Secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, delivered a stirring address on the sacredness of African humanity in an era increasingly defined by artificial intelligence and digital surveillance.
Speaking on behalf of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and the Center for Reparatory Justice at McCormick Theological Seminary, Dr. Carruthers positioned her remarks within a global dialogue that is both deeply spiritual and urgently technological.
“What it means to be human is changing at an unprecedented rate,” she declared, urging the assembly to “factor into our deliberations an Afrofuturist imagination.”
Carruthers’s message was clear: the evolution of AI and data-driven economies cannot be discussed without interrogating how these systems perceive, extract, and often exploit Black existence. She warned that data collection and “de-aggregation” practices risk reducing African identity to metrics, erasing the sacred dimensions of personhood in the process.
“We are in a war of ideation and visualization,” she said. “Not just targeted at our minds, but also our spirits.”
Carruthers urged those in the African diaspora to confront “demonic spirits” antithetical to African spirituality and notions of the divine, reframing the conversation around the moral and metaphysical implications of technology.
Her two key recommendations were both practical and prophetic:
Define Humanity Before Machines Do.
Carruthers called on African thinkers and institutions to lead in shaping the future definition of humanity. “Our survival,” she said, “may depend on our capacity to activate an African soul and spiritual agenda over the next decade.”Empower the Next Generation.
Highlighting that African youth under 29 will soon form the world’s largest demographic, she emphasized their critical role in shaping an ethical, spiritually grounded technological future. “As we consider Afrofuturism,” she urged, “we must prioritize youth communities to inform and engage in the ongoing work of this decade.”
In closing, Carruthers invoked the revolutionary prayer of Dutty Boukman, whose spiritual call to a “God of justice and goodness” ignited the Haitian Revolution. It was a reminder that liberation movements have always been both political and divine.
Her final words echoed through the chamber:
“Backwards never, forward ever.”
With that, Carruthers left her audience with a challenge that transcends policy or programming—to reclaim the right to imagine the future through the lens of African sacredness, before algorithms decide what humanity means.
