Black Panther was AMAZING!

Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” follows T’Challa who, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king.

But when a powerful challenger appears, T’Challa’s mettle as king—and Black Panther—is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk.

Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people and their way of life.

“Black Panther” stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, with Angela Bassett, with Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis.

The Depth of Black Panther

As I sat during the end credits of the Black Panther Movie.  I felt the weight of how profound and how deep this movie was.

Yes, on the surface this movie was another superhero movie, another Marvel comic brought to life.  Or you can minimalize it to a bad guy vs a good guy movie.  Even though this movie blurred the lines between the good guys and bad.

We could say that we should celebrate this movie because it had a majority Black-African cast.  And yes we should celebrate that also.

But there was so much more wrapped up in this movie. There is so much more depth to this movie.

Black Panther explored the possibility of what Africa could have been if it had not been raped and pillaged of its resources and its people.  No there might not have been the kind of technological advances as portrayed in Wakanda.  But there was greatness in Africa that was stripped by colonization.

Unlike Wakanda, no part of Africa has a magical shield that is able to keep away the outside influences.  This world has become more and more global.  Our lives, our countries, our cultures are becoming more intertwined and interconnected.

In many ways, it is a good thing.  There is the sharing of ideas, there is a sense of commonality between the human race.  But in many ways for Africa, it has been a bad thing.

Our Pride

The one thing that stood out to me in the movie as I sat there, Ethiopia is Wakanda or the closest thing to Wakanda out there.  Even though Wakanda is fictitious, there are so many similarities between Ethiopia and Wakanda

The Washington Post says, “a bit like Wakanda, Ethiopia, or Abyssinia as it was once known, was also long shrouded in mystery for Europeans during the Middle Ages, a mythical Christian kingdom of great wealth”

Learn more about Ethiopia.

Wakanda was a country that was sheltered from the outside world.  And although Ethiopia has had outside influences, like Wakanda it is a country that was never colonized by European countries.  Though Italians tried, Ethiopia defeated the Italians during the battle of Adwa on March 1, 1896, and then again in 1941.  Ethiopia was able to defeat those that tried to colonize them.

And just like in Wakanda, that should give us a sense of pride.  Just like the pride I felt when I saw the many tribes of Wakanda in the Warrior Falls Scene.  The pride and awe I felt as the plane was coming up to the waterfalls and you saw the beauty of all the different groups united as one.

That same pride is what we should feel as Ethiopians.

We are a proud country.  A country that has been and will always be African.

Our Riches

Another similarity between Ethiopia and Wakanda is the riches in Ethiopia.  In the movie, the riches were technological, monetary, and in its mineral resources, but Ethiopia has far greater riches than just money or technology.

In an interview with Trevor Noah, Chadwick Bosman, the actor that played Black Panther said it the best.  The Black Panther’s power not only comes from the suit but from “the people, the tradition”.  This should speak very clearly to Ethiopians.

Ethiopia has riches in their culture, in their Christianity, and in their traditions that no one can take away.  We can take pride in being the oldest Christian Nation in the world.  We can take pride in the knowledge kept within our Ge’ez books.

Our rich heritage has stood the test of time and our people are the heart of our culture.  These should give all Ethiopians pride.  We need to cherish these things.

We should not let the outside world minimize it because it is not as valuable to them as monetary riches.  Ethiopians should hold these things as valuable and pass them down from generation to generation.  Ethiopians should view our riches as sacred as the heart-shaped flowers in Wakanda.

Our Duty

Another similarity between Ethiopia and Wakanda, and one that is not so positive.  Like Wakanda, Ethiopians are very exclusive and can be elitist.  We need to be an example to other countries, but more importantly, we need to see other African countries and African Americans as our brothers.  We need to see others as partakers in our heritage.  After all, we are the cradle of humanity, Ethiopia is the beginning of all mankind.  So yes, they are our brothers and they belong to us.

Just like King T’Challa realized at the end of the movie, we have a duty as Ethiopians, as those that have a rich history, as those that are a symbol of African pride to share that.  To allow others to take part in that pride.  To know and share that we are all an African people.  Ethiopia can be a symbol of a great Africa.  We have a duty to share that pride that we have in being Ethiopian, in being African.

We need to share that our history did not just begin when Europeans came to Africa. But that our rich history goes back thousands of years.  Out technology and knowledge goes back thousands of years.  Our culture goes back thousands of years.

In fact, our culture is very far-reaching.  We see it in many, many ways and places not only in Africa but around the world. Our influences on music, our influences on architecture, our influences in medicine.  Our influences go far and our history goes deep. And no one should discount this.

One very poignant thing that Chadwick Boseman said in his interview about the relationship between African Americans and people from the African continent, “there has been a divide for all of his life.”  He said that both African and African American people can share Black Panther and the story it creates.  We need to build upon that bridge that this movie created.

So as Ethiopians we have a duty.  We have a responsibility to rise up like King T’Challa.  To rise up and share that pride.  We should not focus on whether we are Oromo or Tigray, but we need to unite and be proud Ethiopians.   Ethiopians need to share our knowledge, our heritage, and our culture with the world.  So that we can change the way that others view Africa and Ethiopia.  So that Ethiopia and Wakanda can both be great.

As the Queen in Black Panther said, “Show them who you are!

Check out the “Not Today Colonizer” T-shirt commemorating the Battle of Adwa and of course Black Panther!