The Black Panther
Without having to go way out on a limb, it’s probably safe to bet that like me you’ve seen Black Panther. I’ve seen it twice. The first time was on opening night. What a throwback Thursday experience!
To quote an oft-used African American expression “all my cousins were in the audience”. Thanks to all my cousins, I needed to go see it a second time. The second time in a cousin free theatre in a non-simulated nightclub environment.
Unlike my first viewing, my second experience was in a cannabis contact-free, alcohol mixologist prohibited theatre where moviegoers found it unnecessary to talk to the actors on the screen or talk on the phone during the movie. Notwithstanding the absence of all my cousins, my opinion of Black Panther didn’t change from the first showing. Black Panther was a good comic book movie that is, unfortunately, being co-opted as a real-life social movement.
Pleasure
In the days leading up to the premiere of the Black Panther and especially after the national release, I felt what is commonly known as the “guilty pleasure” experience. Merriam Webster defines guilty pleasure as something pleasurable that induces a usually minor feeling of guilt.
In the case of the Black Panther, I was pleased to see the Black Panther on the silver screen. I’ve been an avid fan of Marvel comics since my childhood – when Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman, Wolverine, and Hulk were the featured characters of the day. So, it was exceptionally cool to see Marvel continue to showcase lesser known characters in full-length feature films.
My Favorite Color is Green
For the record, my excitement about Black Panther had nothing to do with skin color. In fact, as far as skin color is concerned, The Hulk, is my favorite Marvel Character.
The Hulk has green skin as in the color of money that is used to take care of my family and green like the vegetation that fuels my vegan existence. Green skin that I often wish I had that would alert anyone who might dare say or do anything that might piss me off to think twice or suffer the consequence. Because like the Hulk “you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry”.
You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry
Speaking of angry, of all the things to emphasize about Black Panther, it’s a shame that the greatest, most universal take away has been his skin color. All the focus on Black Panther’s skin color by media, “community and social activists”, politicians and the like have been shortsighted, incompetent, and hugely irresponsible.
Focusing on Black Panther’s color belies the more important truth which is that Black Panther exhibits qualities and characteristics that anyone should desire and aspire to reach. Yes, the Black Panther is African, but he is also a brilliant tactician, strategist, and scientist. The Black Panther has greater amounts of melanin, but he is also what most of us are not – undeniably loyal to his community, highly respectful of his elders and ancestors, and is without reservation willing to sacrifice his life for the good of his community.
Very Little in Common
As a product of one of Americas most segregated, economically depleted, and socially challenged cities, I’m further troubled by the perpetual disingenuous socioeconomic commentary that has been associated with Black Panther. Wholesale numbers of African American children are being force-fed comparative untruths and selective facts in an attempt to connect them to the Black Panther.
The absolute truth is that regardless of skin color, very few American children including African American children share anything in common with T’Challa. T’Challa, the Black Panther, is part of the powerful elite who rule the world. T’Challa is not the product of a low or middle-income family. T’Challa is the product of a patriarchal monarchy whose 1% privileged male socioeconomic standing was predetermined before birth.
T’Challa’s parents never struggled to make ends meet nor were they among the few fortunate minority employees working in corporate America. T’Challa never attended a school where his parents feared he would be a victim of gang violence or school shootings. T’Challa did not bear the burden of attempting to be a first-generation college student nor was he among the minority student body who struggle to fit in and graduate from a majority educational institution.
T’Challa did not grow up in a racially segregated neighborhood with all the isolated trappings America is known for such as food deserts, high under and unemployment, failing schools, heightened police patrol and potential gentrification. And when people followed T’Challa around they did so because they revered him and were ordered to protect his royal blood, not because of centuries-old racists beliefs or racial self-hatred.
So, I’ll say it again, the majority of American children regardless of skin color, share little in common with T’Challa.
Guilty
As a father who cares deeply about the humanity of all people, I’m deeply uncomfortable with the collective worship and overwhelming importance placed on the race of comic book characters. If Black Panther’s skin color “represents” hope for children of African descent, what are we to say to and about other children of color?
Are Asian, Central American, South American, Antarctic, and the Indigenous children of America, Australia, and New Zealand, who have yet to enjoy a comic book movie featuring a character from their racial/ethnic group bereft of hope? How long will these children suffer and continue to be denied the “opportunity to believe in the impossible”? Who amongst the people of color who have now enjoyed the luxury of seeing a positive comic book image of themselves on the big screen will champion the cause of those people who have yet to do so?
Be A Superhero
Black Panther is a good, not great movie. It’s a movie worth seeing and it’s a movie that should serve as yet another reminder to parents that it is time to liberate ourselves from the great American Pastime of outsourcing superheroes.
Children don’t need Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Black Panther or any other character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to make them believe anything is possible. Children only need you and me to be our best – they need to see that we care deeply about all humanity, that we will always think critically, and that we won’t ever give up or back down.
Rather than obsessing over make-believe characters from a fictitious land, who digest a magical plant that gives them superhuman powers, who are born into a family of excessive privilege, and who until personal crisis show little interest in helping the greater Community, we should fixate on being the best version of ourselves possible for our own children. Instead of waiting for a capitalistic movie studio to greenlight another film that will further exploit the income and wealth disparity that exists between the haves and have-nots of this Nation, we should dedicate our time, talent and resources to be the best versions of ourselves possible – to be our own children’s superheroes. #SuperheroParentsForever
Are you your child’s favorite superhero? Are you raising a child who will someday be your superhero?