The death of Chadwick Boseman has had a profound effect on a lot of people. I had a lot of respect not just for him as an actor but for what he represented as a person. I just wanted to share my experience. I hope it’s cool.
I was really attracted to Black culture when I was a kid. I loved blues music and all of my idols were black athletes. I had dreams of one day meeting Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson. My favorite G.I. Joes were Stalker and Hardball. I read about Martin Luther King Jr. and I admired him so much. I dressed like John Lee Hooker.
I grew up in a small Southern town where people use racial slurs very comfortably. I heard racist jokes all the time. It made me uncomfortable and it was hard to hear people that I love to sometimes partake. I don’t wanna pretend that I had a lot of Black friends growing up, though. I didn’t regularly see Black folks until I lived with them in my room at college. They made fun of my cooking and were really good guys.
But I always liked the Black Panther. He was an edgy Marvel character that was unique in the Marvel universe. He’s a symbol of a righteous black man existing in a universe that was in the need of good leadership. I just thought he looked cool.
I thought the Black Panther movie was great. It was elegantly crafted with wonderful performances from actors and actresses that were at their prime.
The whole film was bound together by a wonderful actor in Boseman. The release of the film meant so much to my black friends and students. They were able to see a positive representation of themselves...a hero, something to aspire to.
August 29, 2020 is a dark time in American history. Cops are banding together, attacking citizens without I.D. and kidnapping them. Our president uses dogwhistle racism and tweets white power memes. Violence by authorities goes unchecked. The moral grays of humanity have become our defining color palette. It seems like nothing will get better and all this is happening in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.
But I remember that, in 2018, this happened: https://twitter.com/jasminelwatkins/status/959517734076911616?s=21
Kids were dancing because they had a chance to see Black Panther on the big screen for the first time. It was goodness represented in the world. Their goodness.
If I feel hopeless, I remember that despite growing up under generations of oppression, racism, and violence some of the greatest forms of human expression were born.
Some of our greatest musicians. Artists. Athletes. Writers.
Some of our greatest leaders.
I think that sometimes our world has to be terrible for the best people to rise up and show us how to be better.
That what Boseman did. He represented goodness. That’s what I saw. And for that, I’m grateful.
-Eric Osborn