Obama, T'Challa, and Black People in America (Part 2)

I read a commentary on Black Panther scathingly criticizing T'Challa as a weak sell-out of a character, with Kilmonger being the only real hero and revolutionary in the movie.  I thought long and hard about this criticism, and used other four comic book characters and movies to shape my conclusions.

What do Superman, Wonder woman, Thor, and T'Challa have in common?

They are all comic book characters.

Obviously, right?

But think about the implications of taking a comic book character and making him or her as real as possible, in a kind of historical fiction.  Think of the problems that come from pressing reality on these characters, and of putting these four heroes in our  real world histories.  We'll start with The Man of Steel himself.

SUPERMAN
Some people had a problem with Henry Cavill playing the role superman because he's British.  Why?  Because, by some, this Kryptonian was conceived as a good ole' American.  Maybe even a Republican.  Even his uniform was connected to the American flag in some people's minds.  In Superman 2, he put the American flag back on the White House after defeating General Zod.  Yet Cavill's Superman in "The Man of Steel" showed us how a Kryptonian would be seen if one really came to our world.

He would be an alien.  Plain and simple.

He was neither American nor British, though the Kryptonians happened to look white.

As an alien, he wouldn't be immediately trusted by the American government...nor by Batman for that matter.  There would be issues as to his jurisdiction, authority, and accountability.  Morally, a character like Lex Luthor would wonder where Kal-El was when he was an abused boy who needed a savior.  After all, Lois Lane can barely sneeze in Nigeria without Superman flying all the way from Metropolis to say "Bless you."  A real Superman raises real problems.  So does a real Amazon Warrior Princess named Diana.

WONDERWOMAN
Was Diana a feminist?  I don't think so.  I think she embodied the feminist ideal...to a point...depending on how we think of or define feminism.  But I don't think Diana came to earth for women.  As the daughter or creation of Zeus, depending on the back story in DC history, she was either a goddess or a demigoddess.  Not exactly a woman.  Definitely not human.  Definitely not focused on women's issues.  In fact, Gal Gadot, a Jewish woman, may not embody every feminist ideal for every feminist.  What about Black women who are feminist?  Or even Jewish women, for that matter.  Is Diana more a representative of Greek women, in terms of the mythology?  That's not the impression I get of her.  She doesn't seem to have a particular affinity to the Greeks any more than Thor, the Norse god of thunder, has an affinity to Norwegians or other Celts.

THOR
We don't think of Thor primarily from Norse mythology.  We know that's where his character is from, but we don't focus on that.  His coming to earth in the Marvel Universe also had serious implications, resulting in responses from Tony Stark and Nick Fury in relation to the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D.  A real Thor would cause real problems for the world and in the world, like a real T'Challa and a real Wakanda wouldn't work well in the real history of Africa, and of Africans in America.

T'CHALLA
So, if there was a real Wakanda, how could any oppression happen on the African continent, ever?  How could slavery in America have taken place?  Surely the previous Black Panther T'Chaka, and the Black Panthers before him, would have destroyed any attempts at oppression, wouldn't they?  The slave masters and Hitlers of the world wouldn't stand a chance...or would they?  Wonder woman fought in the war against Hitler, but where was she previously in the history of humanity? Where were any of the Amazons in any of the tragedies of human history? After all, they were created by Zeus to protect humanity, not just women, and not just Greeks (unless "humanity" meant "Greeks," like "all men were created equal," meant "all white men were created equal?")  Where were any of the Greek or Norse gods, or the Kryptonians, or the Wakandans, when we needed them?

Do you see the problems we create when we place these characters in our histories...if we insist they must fit perfectly and neatly into these histories?

Of course, my goal was to deal with the issues that come up in the movie "Black Panther."  Kilmonger's issues.  T'Challa's issues.  Nakia's issues.

Whether we're dealing with Superman, Wonderwoman, Thor, or T'Challa, the implications of what real life would be like if they entered our world are not simple...and we usually don't think too deeply about them...unless the hero is T'Challa.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 3

Obama, T'Challa, and Black People in America (Part 3)

T'Challa's character seems to  have something to prove that neither Superman nor Thor have to even think about.  So does Wonder woman.  To some, T'Challa has to represent all of Black History, and to others, Wonder woman overcomes all of feminine oppression.  Or so some think.

These two heroes, Black Panther and Wonderwoman, touch on serious political issues that Thor and Superman don't.  Superman doesn't represent British or American people.  Thor doesn't represent Celts or Anglo-Saxons.  But T'Challa is supposed to carry black people on his shoulders, and Wonder woman is supposed to be the icon of women everywhere.

But why?

Let's go back to Superman for a moment.

To a certain extent, Superman did carry America on his shoulders.  At least the old Superman did.  Henry Cavill's Superman doesn't do so as well.  But the old Superman represented America, for some reason, even more than Captain America himself.  America.  That's the issue.

America.

After all, Wonder woman mostly represents American feminism, it seems.  More specifically, white American women's feminism, because in fact, it was primarily white women resisting oppressive white men in power in the suffrage movement.  Black men weren't keeping anybody from voting because they themselves couldn't vote.  Black women weren't in the position to blatantly challenge the oppressive white men.  So what would a black woman's wonder woman look like or be like?  Or a native american's wonder woman, for that matter?  It's possible that their wonder woman would not be an Amazon, if we press the issue.

There were no feminist Zeus created Amazons sent to oppressed women everywhere.
There were no Wakandans empowered by a meteor to fight the oppressor. 
There was no Black Panther.

Yet T'Challa could represent black men, and Wakanda black people, in the Marvel Universe. But did Stan Lee, and the creators of Black Panther and Wakanda, have that in mind?  Or did William Moulton have black and native women in mind when he created Wonder Woman?  Though Wonder woman is powerfully politically impactful, what I've said shows the possible limits of her impact that are not present for T'Challa.

Whether Stan Lee thought of black history or not when he created Black Panther, T'Challa intensely affects the minds of many black people today.  This super hero can show black boys and girls in America, and on the continent of Africa, something they've never seen before, just as Obama showed African-Americans, Africans, and the world, something they had never seen before.

What T'Challa represents is mind changing, reality changing, and life changing, especially if we don't press black history too far on what he represents.

Obama, T'Challa, and Black People in America

The day after Barak Obama became president, something happened to me, and I believe to many black people in America.  I remember looking out of my window, and the world literally and physically looking like a new world.  I can't stress this enough.  The way I literally saw the physical world, with my physical eyes, completely changed.  I've had that feeling many times before...like when I went to Israel, or to London, or the Philippines.  The feeling you get when you are seeing a world completely new and unlike your home.

Having Barak Obama as president of the United States felt literally like living in a new and foreign country.

I'm not saying that I, or black people in general, agree with everything that came out of the man's mouth or head.  I'm saying he embodied something we needed to see and experience.  He symbolized something.  So does T'Challa in the movie "The Black Panther."

If you put aside all of the so called political issues raised by Wakanda in the real world of racism and oppression, issues that raise questions for what a Wakanda would mean during the middle passage for example, and you see the impact of T'Challa and Wakanda on black thought, you can see how he, and Obama, affected many black people.

True, Wakanda is an imaginary African country.  But I believe it's power comes from being imaginary.  Symbolic. An ideal that is real.  To me, the mystery and beauty of Wakanda in the comic book is that it is hidden in plain sight.  These so called backwards third world people have the power to heal the world.  The cradle of civilization has the power to restore civilization, to fight an enemy and oppressor the world has never known.  (All of this is in the Marvel Universe, of course.  A point that needs to be remembered when thinking about who T'Challa is, and what Wakanda is.)

Wakanda, and T'Challa, showed black people something we haven't seen.  A powerful, beautiful, independent African nation...untouched by white civilization or colonization.  Unapologetically African.  Imaginary.  But a glimpse of reality.

When I left the theatre, after seeing "The Black Panther," I felt like I did the day after Obama became president.  I saw myself, and the world, with literally new eyes.  Why?

Are black people so desperate for identity that a comic book character could make such a difference in who and what we are?  Is it pitiful that some of us would embrace Wakanda to such an extent that we would chant "Wakanda forever" after seeing the movie, copying the actions of the Wakandans?  Some would frown on African-Americans who hail an imaginary African nation while barely knowing the names of real African nations.

Those who frown may be missing the point.  Something may be about to happen that no one anticipated.  T'Challa may complete Obama's impact...he may even transcend his impact...because he is imaginary. 

What will black people now be?

I think we will embrace the continent and her countries in ways we've never done before.  And I pray we will embrace the God of our weary years and silent tears, becoming, finally and eternally, true to our God, and true to our native land.

Click here for part 2.

A Lesson on Powerfully Praying

"For this reason I tell you:  When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for. 

Mark 11:24 GNT

I've been learning something significant about praying, something that will change your life, starting today.  This is how I learned it.

Once I needed a job.  Not just any job, mind you.  I job that pays at least 17 dollars hour for 40 hours a week.  So I would follow the prayer formula Jesus gave in the following verses:

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;  and the one who knocks, the door will be opened."  Matt. 7:7-8

I asked God in prayer to give me a job that paid at least 17 dollars an hour for 40 hours a week.  Then I sought this job through job searches until I found it.  I then knocked on the doors of these jobs by applying for them until I was interviewed...but something happened in this process that didn't match what Jesus said.

Though I asked for and sought a job that paid 17 an hour for 40 hours a week, I would find jobs that would not tell me how much they paid an hour, or how many hours a week the job was.  But I would still pursue the job!  In the book of James, it is written, "You have not because you ask not."  That was me.  Whenever these jobs would call me in for an interview, I would not stop and ask them, "Excuse me, how much does this job pay, and for how many hours a week?"  So I'd go to an interview and waste my time and theirs because I wouldn't take the job if it wasn't what I asked for.  But the problem was deeper than wasting their time and mine.

The problem was my lack of faith, that I was double minded, unstable, and wavering, as it says in the book of James of those who shouldn't expect to receive anything from God in prayer:

"But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.  James 1: 6-8

Those verses described me at the time.  I was desperate for work.  So I wavered and compromised from the specific prayer request I gave God.  Keyword:  specific.

Jesus taught that our prayers should be specific, and we should seek to receive exactly what we ask for.  Nothing more, less, or other than what we ask.  When we do this, and when we stick to doing this by faith and honesty about what we want, the answers to our prayers become clearer and clearer.  Either you will get what you ask, or you will not get what you ask.  But if you aren't getting what you asked for, like getting a job that pays less than what you asked, don't compromise like I did.  Don't try to make it work, or adjust your prayer...unless your prayer was unwise in the first place.  Then just pray a new prayer all together.  But the new prayer should be wise and specific.  The more specific your prayers, and the more single minded, doubtless, and unwavering you are, the more you will see God give you clear direction and guidance.

This is the lesson on powerfully praying that I learned, and that I'm sharing with you.  

Share your lessons on powerfully praying with me in the comments section.  I look forward to hearing from you.  May God bless you, and answer all of your prayers.

Old boyfriends, old girlfriends, and Jesus

"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.  Could this be the Messiah?"  John 4:29

One day Jesus met a woman at a well.  Though this was their first conversation, their first time meeting, he said something to her that was very piercing and personal; her response was even more personal:

"He told her, 'Go, call your husband, and come back.'  'I have no husband,' she replied.  Jesus said to her, 'You are right when you say you have no husband.  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.  What you have just said is quite true.'  'Sir,' the woman said, 'I can see that you are a prophet.'"  John 4:16b-19

Think about what Jesus was saying to her.  He was bringing up not only five failed marriages, but he was doing this in a culture where this would be intensely more shameful than it would be today.  Yet he must have said these words with not only power, but with compassion.  The woman didn't seem offended or ashamed.  She sensed that His knowledge was from God--that Jesus was a prophet, a messenger of God.

But she didn't feel condemned or ashamed. 

And she came to two even more powerful conclusions about Jesus:

1. She said that Jesus told her "everything she ever did."  Everything.  She viewed her past relationship failures and shame as "everything she ever did."  To this woman, these failures completely defined her.  She completed defined herself by her unfulfilled desire for intimacy.  She was in relationship number six with a man who wasn't her husband.  She was trying yet again!  She had had at least 6 men, which leads to her second and most powerful conclusion.

2. She concluded that Jesus was the Messiah, the Chosen One.  Not just a prophet.  Not just God's messenger sent to her, but to everyone...the Savior of the world.  This is significant for her because Jesus was Someone more profound than she realized:

According to the Apostle Paul, Jesus was the last Adam;

according to Paul, Jesus was the second Man, the New Man.

The 6 or so men the women had before were descendants of Adam--fallen, and in need of salvation, just as she was.  She needed to be saved from the failed relationships of her past.  And when Jesus asked her to go get her husband, he was asking her to get the man she was now with...to bring that man, and thus every man that she had ever known or been hurt by, to Him--the New Man.

Jesus would take her present and past relationships, the relationships she defined as "everything she had ever done," and bring salvation. 

In Jesus, she would become a new woman. 
In Jesus, she would gain a new view of men.

But for this to happen, Jesus had to ask the question, and she had to answer it...to be set free from it.

In his very first meeting, he went to her very heart...and she let him. 
He touched her broken heart...and she let him into her pain.

Some of the worst and most painful experiences of my life have been in failed relationships. 

Perhaps that's true for you. 

Ex-wives or ex-husbands,
old boyfriends, old girlfriends...and Jesus. 

What will He ask us?  What will we say? Will we be our answer?