What is Africa before invasion? What is America after integration?
The concept is beautifully written, directed, cast, fashioned and depicted in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther.
Ryan Coogler creates Wakanda effortlessly to futuristically house a possible showdown in Avengers Infinity War.
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I felt nine years old viewing The General in combat in South Korea.
Comic Book Fans rejoice.
Hollywood is re-educated.
And Africa’s Lost Ones might have won one.
Enter Oakland’s own Erik Killmonger.
From entrance to exit, Killmonger represents the social ills that plague Wakanda. Cultivated with the foundation of Wakanda’s culture, the murder of his royal father propels him to succeed within American War Culture.
Super-sleuth military training, plus Wakandan first-class blood, creates a Super Villain that leaves the audience with a touch of identity. Residing in the heart of many displaced from their homeland, is a relentless movement towards belonging.
The thought of Wakanda’s isolation is challenged with Erik’s arrival. This leaves King Elect T’Challa challenging the Ancestors for true answers.
The genius of Black Panther is a visual of Africa only matched, in Hollywood, by 1988’s Coming To America. The tribes of Wakanda each tell a story of diversity, even within Africa, that has yet to be told. This re-introduction to Africa turns the spot, held by talks of diversity, into action. The technology spearheaded by Disney‘s newest princess (“What’s up Princess?”) Shuri gives life and a face to countless top performing students of African descent.
Black Panther is a Superhero with amazing purpose. Black Panther: The Movie is a lost diaspora ‘s liberation. T’Challa addressing the United Nations speaks to the bigger picture:
Wakanda will no longer watch from the shadows. We can not. We must not. We will work to be an example of how we, as brothers and sisters on this earth, should treat each other. Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.
What is Africa before invasion? What is America after integration?
