So I have seen a lot of posts from friends about the movie Black Panther. How it is life changing/ affirming/ etc.
I thought this was an awesome movie…folks should go see it.
It is fantastic to see a movie and take my kids to a movie where people who look like them are smart, beautiful, competent, savvy…can be both an articulate villain and a competent hero…value the opinions of women and men in a community and have some pretty neat effects…it’s a fun time.
I see individuals longing for a place like the fictional country of Wakanda…which I find odd.
Here is the thing….we have all of those people and types of people here…in reality..across the world – so why are we longing for a place that does not exist?
Stay with me.
In my small circle of friends…I see agents of technological change such as Dr Sarina Kay Sinclair and her husband merging man and machine into amazing things…..Sheila Isbell using computers and code to enrich the now and teach the future. Community activists likeNichole Campbel/Winnie Campbell/Tony Washington…businessmen and women like Janine Conway/ Nicole IvyCharlaine Fearon-Barringer, Adija Banks…inspirational figures like Lindsay Enita/ Tasha Burks…religious leaders like Charles E. Goodman Jr. and Robert Payne Jr…healers like Jennifer Rice/Denise James/Shante Linnen….educators like Yardley Hunter, Michael B Hoyes Jr, Greensboro Gal/ Enjoli Lawhorn/Julian Nixon….men of strategy and mentor ship like Jaron Roux/Michael Hoyes…women of leadership and warriors like Gen Harris (both of them)…heroes in arms and service like Erin Owens Weatherly/Mich LG/Cedric Weatherly/Yvonne Jose Pacheco….and so many many more across even more avenues of study.
All of these individuals are famous to me and are part of a huge tribe that has sought to work for the betterment of communities throughout this nation and abroad…in real life.
I have had the honor to have been taught in HS by people who looked like me and showed me the diversity of what it is to be a woman of color…so as I went out into the world with the lessons of my God to guide me and my parents to watch over me, i could appreciate the diversity from which I came and know that the same is found around the world…across hues and backgrounds and religions…
I do not need a ticket to Wakanda… We.Can.Do.It.Here
I love the pride.
I loved seeing an idea of a Nation where colonialism did not take place…it may have ended up that way or so many different ways…We will ever know.
So just as i took my age-appropriate littles to see Black Panther..I also take them to places where they can learn of the rich fabric of peoples that have made up this world. I am in awe of my friends who can travel the world with their kiddos right now and can not wait to stamp more places in passports. I want to do this to show them the variety of places and people.
Some are good.
Some are not so good.
They have to learn and see both.
I teach my children that there are real life models they can ask questions to and learn from…all because of this beautiful and diverse tribe I am a part of.
In the praising of this fictional nation…let us not forget the variety of real life heroes we have before us.
The movie was awesome. It was fun to see and I will enjoy it again and again. I just hope we do not long for a movie when we have the show of a lifetime before us…if we choose to play.