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Perhaps you all have seen this theme already and I'm late to the game.
But have you noticed the theme of unjust & unavenged Black male death running through the Wakanda/Black Panther franchise to date? There's a pronounced lack of justice when it comes to the Black male death.
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But have you noticed the theme of unjust & unavenged Black male death running through the Wakanda/Black Panther franchise to date? There's a pronounced lack of justice when it comes to the Black male death.
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Let's start with the killing of W'kabi's parents by Klaw. We never meet his parents in the film, but there death at Klaw's hand drives him. Their unaccounted death is what makes him vulnerable to Killmonger's schemes and seditious against the throne.
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Then there is the killing of Killmonger's father, N'Jobu. He is killed by his brother and erased really from Wakandan society and memory. It was an unjust killing even though it came at the hand of his king. The king goes unpunished and unaccountable for his lifetime.
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Next, King T'Chaka is killed by Zemo through an explosion in Avengers: Civil War. T'Challa sets out for vengeance. But neither in Civil War nor in Black Panther with Klaw does he quite mete out justice. Zemo is captured but the effect of that unjust killing lingers.
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In #FalconAndTheWinterSoldier 
, these deaths hang like loaded clouds over the dialogue and character development. These are the pronounced injustices that punctuate the everyday indignities and dangers Falcon faces. Even the superhero faces these without remedy.
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, these deaths hang like loaded clouds over the dialogue and character development. These are the pronounced injustices that punctuate the everyday indignities and dangers Falcon faces. Even the superhero faces these without remedy./5
WalMart Cap (WMC) avenges his sidekick, but vigilante action by "white saviors" is not justice. It satisfies WMC's blood lust and insecure ego, but it's not a justice that restores, restitutes, and rebuilds. The Avengers were never about REvengers. WMC doesn't get that.
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So, I'm fascinated with how Black male life and its loss gets played out over the BP franchise. Right now, it feels like the cinematic portrayal of Chief Justice Tanney's infamous words in Dred Scott:
"The Black man has no rights that a white man is bound to respect."
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"The Black man has no rights that a white man is bound to respect."
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One could substitute "justice" in place of "white man" and I think you'd have an adequate summary so far in the BP franchise. It's a cinematic parade of black male death largely without adequate accountability or even reprisal. Feels a lot like real life on camera.
/end
/end
