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.
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.
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