Not about hair: 'AfroCon' celebrates all things nerdy

Jade R. Rogers grew up in Omaha. Her parents were community driven, and so early on, Rogers was thinking about how to build community.

Rogers also grew up a nerd. In part because of her older brother and his comic book collection, she was enraptured by the heroes and villains. But she had trouble finding community in those spaces.

“I would go to comic book shops and realize that I was the only Black person, the only woman in those spaces,” Rogers said. “Most of the time and often time, did not feel comfortable, wasn't made to feel comfortable.”

Rogers would leave Omaha for college but held on to and cultivated her nerdy interests. Upon her return to Omaha, she made the decision to schedule a game night, to plant the seeds and begin to create the community she wanted to see.

This would ultimately lead to her founding the House of Afros, Capes and Curls, an organization that’s goal is to bring people together over shared nerdy interests, without any judgement, something Rogers wanted when she was younger. This was also something that those who came to The House’s game nights expressed.

“I realized that there are so many things that Black people don't do because they don't feel that that is a space that they would feel comfortable in or be received in,” Rogers said.

From the House of Afros, Capes and Curls, came AfroCon.

AfroCon came from a desire to have a space where Black nerds, or blerds, would be able to have fun with their nerdier interests, judgement and assumption free.

“In order to grow the community, AfroCon needed to be the thing that we could just nerd out and have that day in that space to just anything that you like and love,” Rogers said. “It's looked lots of different ways.”

Held at Metro Community College’s Center for Advanced and Emerging Technologies building, the day featured panels, cosplay and cosplay contests, artists selling their wares and even an e-sports tournament.

For those looking to game, a whole section of the space was dedicated to an area where con-goers could lock in and play games like Super Smash Brothers together, or even stand up and play Dance Dance Revolution.

Upstairs was where the panels and discussions were. One of the panels was on how to write stories. Dylan Oakes Ronde, Lily Wang and Rodney Conyers Jr. walked a group through the story writing process. Ronde stood at the front of the MCC classroom and walked the group of 10 or so through how to overcome writers block, how to focus a story and how to generate new ideas.

One of those listening in was Jeremy Cardwell. It was his first time coming to AfroCon.

“I grew up on Dragon Ball Z so that was a big, big part of my childhood,” said Cardwell. "Superhero stuff of course, you know your comics. I didn't own any comics. I had an uncle who was big in comics, so I always would read his comics.”

His sister-in-law told him about AfroCon, and this year he decided he wanted to go. Cardwell said he can easily relate to not having a community, let alone a community of other blerds, to talk nerdy shop with when he was younger. He said AfroCon fills that niche.

“It's that space,” said Cardwell. "Being able to express myself about anime and games and comics and everything and not have to be judged, and also being able to explain that and get other people's feedback.”

Just inside the event space were a few rows of tables, where local artists and vendors were set up. One of those artists was Michael Clark, who was selling an array of crocheted goods, one of which was a large taco pillow. This was Clark’s fourth AfroCon, but she like many at the con, had been a blerd for much longer.

“I think it was more difficult growing up to be a blerd, because on one hand, all my white friends are like, ‘yeah, we all love this media, we love these games.’ And then in Black communities is like, ‘oh no, she's doing white stuff,’” said Clark. “It was harder because then it's code switching between those communities.”

Clark said her 10-year-old son is as nerdy as her, loving anime like Naruto, and wanting to learn how to make costumes for conventions like his mom.

“The nerds that grew up, like our generation, are making it easier for kids to get into anime and other nerdy things,” said Clark. "But now, with Afro capes and curls, is a community for specifically for it. So it's very nice. I love it.”

Clark loves to cosplay, or the dressing up as a character from a book, movie or video game. One thing AfroCon offers is a cosplay contest,

There were two contests, one for kids and one for adults.

For both contests, the contestants got up on stage, described their costumes, and showed off to the crowd.

The adult contest winner was a woman who dressed up as the children’s cartoon character, Doc McStuffins. What’s even better is she is a real doctor.

The kid’s contest winner was high schooler Koiya Crawford, a first-time cosplayer. She designed a costume after a character of her own creation.

“I'm a plague doctor,” Crawford said. “[My character] grew up around, you know, people dying all the time, and she's just like, ‘you know what, I want to help the people I want to solve the plague.’”

Crawford agreed that there is not as much scrutiny of nerdy things, but there is still a stigma sometimes.

“There's a lot of people who are just like, ‘ooh, you're Black and you like anime. I don't know about that one,’ you know?” Crawford said.

Crawford knows Jade Rogers and has even taken part in other programs through the House of Afros, Capes and Curls.

“I just like that. It's heavily based on people of color and the history of it…And just like, acceptance of their interest in all that good stuff." Crawford said.

Rogers said that AfroCon, while it has all of the nerdy trimmings of any fan convention, is mainly about community.

“I always want AfroCon to be that thing that the community can rally around and come in and is that safe space and that inclusive space, but also highlights and celebrates the amazing people that do amazing things that are right here, and there are so many people that do amazing things in this city, we just need more platforms to lift them up," Rogers said.

While talking to me about Saturday’s AfroCon, Rogers mentioned that she was already planning AfroCon 2026.