Black Panther and Terrorism on the Continent
I do not own the copyright/license to any of the video material posted. It is used for strictly educational purposes and is not intended solely for personal gain. This comes from pop culture ramblings.
I do not own the copyright to the pictures that I am about to post. And also, I’m disappointed that I COULD NOT find the still that I wanted. The absence of this still speaks to the following post. My use of the images is solely for educational purposes and not as click bait.
Black people the world over needed Black Panther. We did. It was a big-budget production with nuanced writing and complicated characters. Some of us, dressed in all of the African clothing that we own, and wore it outside of the house. Many of us only wear our African clothing for Black History Month, but last year we wore it to the movie theaters sometimes two and three times!
And Panther was not the first Black hero to do well at the box office. Blade anyone? But, he was the first from the Continent. As with any first, we have discussed, critiqued, laughed at, gotten angry about, made t-shirts from, and created hashtags dedicated to this movie. Some critiques include: accents all over the place, could have used more artists who were actually from Africa, no grand openings in Africa, and just all-around wishful thinking, because Wakanda is not real (Don’t remind me. Let me live the dream for a little while!).
But, and this is a BIG AND TERRIBLY CONSEQUENTIAL BUT, the terrorism that was featured on the film is real. And we have talked about everything but that. Recall, everybody: the soon-to-be-king and the love of his life, Nakia, were not together at the beginning of the film. In fact, he was on a mission with the general to rescue her. What was he rescuing her from? Terrorists in the style of Boko Haram.
So far, this facet of the film has gone ignored by the public at large! As a matter of fact, I could not find one still with the terrorists, Nakia, and the King. Though many things about the film are unreal and sadly, unimaginable for some, terrorism on the Continent is very real. People in West Africa are suffering at the hands of Boko Haram, and people in East Africa are suffering attacks from al Shabaab. Just a few days ago, al Shabaab launched a deadly attack in Nairobi that was a 19-hour siege and left 21 people dead. One of those killed was an American who had already survived the Twin Tower attacks of 2001.
Terror on the Continent is real and should be at the forefront of the fight against terror. At this point, it is treated as a side-tangent rather than central. Attacks on the Continent receive significantly less press coverage than those in the Middle East. For example, a bomb was detonated in Syria, killing innocent people and at least two American soldiers. I have heard news coverage of this bombing -and even seen the bloodstained doorpost. The Kenya story has dropped from the headlines and is barely available on the news ticker.
From the movie, Nakia’s statement, “This one’s just a boy,” comes directly from the lives of boys who are subject to these faux-military regimes/terror groups. These armies typically kidnap young boys, forcing them into a life of killing and brutality. They rape and impregnate young women without revealing their real names. The image of the women who were riding in the truck with Nakia, dressed in Muslim clothing, was real enough to draw tears to my eyes in the theatre, and I had to walk away to gather myself. As we speak, only half of the young ladies who were kidnapped by Boko Haram have been returned to the families. Some of them are missing limbs and have been severely traumatized by their experiences. Some of them died as they tried to escape.
Recently, HBO launched a documentary about the kidnapped girls of Nigeria. Their story has also disappeared from American news lineups. I was glad to see somebody somewhere does not suffer from our notorious American amnesia, and the documentary is well-done. It is free of sentiment (thankfully), and is even hopeful. One of the most heartbreaking and hopeful things I have ever seen in my life was a young lady who had escaped from Boko Haram and also found two orphaned boys. This young woman, who looked as if she were no older than 17, said that she could not bear to part with those little boys, and refused to part with them. She cares for them every day, and they called her mother on screen. This time, I did cry.
In addition, the Continent has had more than its fair share of political instability due to harsh dictators. For example, Gambia just got rid of a dictator, Yahya Jemmeh, who terrorized the people of Gambia daily for more than 20 years. Under his regime, people were tortured, disappeared, murdered, and forced to take false HIV cures. And he is just one of several in recent history. Just two days ago, an investigative journalist was murdered assassination-style in Ghana on his way home one night.
Look, I do not profess to have some kind of secret knowledge of Africa. In America, we rarely receive adequate (or accurate) news of the Continent. Sometimes, this has nothing to do with race and more to do with logistics. It’s a huge land mass of more than 50 countries, and every country has its own politics, traditions, and problems. Sometimes, there are several different nations within a country, and each of those nations (tribes) has its own language and worship styles. But the good thing is, African Americans and Africans are in contact with one another much more than in recent times. For example, many African newspapers are available for free on the Internet. Sometimes, I spend hours just reading from country-to-country. Today, we have many African students attending colleges, including HBCUs. Rather than asking our brothers and sisters from the Continent dumb questions (like if they wear clothes), we need to sit and listen to them. Perhaps, we can help raise awareness at the global level about terrorism in Africa. We need to put the Continent front and center to bring about lasting change. and though we may never have a Wakanda (that would be too much like heaven on earth, and I for one, would never want to die and leave it behind!), we could at least help foster peace for our brothers and sisters who are currently living in terror.
If you are interested in the documentary, it is called Stolen Daughters. Click here to preview it.
