Fighting the right fight

I grew up very poorly understanding the world I was supposed to be a part of. I grew up in a predominantly white community, and in media, there were so many poor representations of what it means to be black- it was very confusing to me. Though there were many entertaining and fun shows and movies, they are very often poor representations of who people are as African Americans. They fail to fully and positively capture how innovative, determined, and beautiful we really are.

Honestly, the world I was raised in portrays black people as poor, sex-crazed, drug addicted, nauseatingly goofy, and uneducated people who run away from problems, make bad decisions, and are not the type of people you look up to- especially as a child growing up in a Christian home where drugs, sex, and money were kinda not the point anyway. There was a few people who I did look up to as a kid, but even many of those have been drug through the mud since then, including a certain famous neurosurgeon and a beloved comedian and his television family.

But Wakanda was different. And I loved seeing that. Because the problem is not that black people are not great. The problem is that far too many people think so little of black people- think we are less than we are. Far too often the portrayal has been derogatory and harsh. And we limit a “come-up-ance” and opportunity for greatness to having a story about a single mom. Don’t get me wrong, having an impact on a family is incredible, but it’s very different than having an impact on a community, a country, or a world. And that’s what we really need right now.

Black Panther changed a lot of that. (Obviously, there have been other incredible and encouraging movies over the years- don’t misunderstand me). Black Panther portrayed a stand up black man, who was not baby-daddy for a dozen women, not a druggie with a bad past, and not an athlete. He was raised in a loving family to be a wise, respected leader, and to stand up for what mattered. He even believed in a higher power that made him better suited to do what he was called to do. And the movie well portrayed that good leading is not simply saying empty things, and not just physically fighting people, it is a combination of both, and having the wisdom to know which is required when. For instance, sometimes bad guys don’t care how good your meeting was, they just want to kill you, and a true leader knows how to combine listening, with speaking, and even fighting sometimes.

Black Panther also so well reminded us how we need good, trustworthy people around us. I’m talking to myself here, but we need to lay down the strong black woman who can do anything all by her lonesome. We need to learn how to love and trust each other, even the ones we don’t think we can trust. Most incredibly, the movie even showed us a man who literally learned from his enemy how to be a better leader- how often do we see that happen in real life?

I loved Black Panther. After too many years of seeing black people as jokes, poor role models, and deserving of the ways that society limits us, it reminded me of who I want to be, how I want to live, and the truth that exists in each and every black person.

I don’t tend to fall apart when celebrities pass away- mostly because I know I don’t really know them. But there’s been a few that really mattered to me. The first one that broke my heart was Michael Jackson- a man who changed the face of music for decades- speaking about things that no one else would even acknowledge at the time. I’ve literally been in the smallest village in the second poorest country in the world, and people know who he is! He changed so much! But he also spent most of his life trying not to be black. And I know what that’s like and why he did it. But in Chadwick Boseman, we had someone who was not just a great performer, but also a proud African American. It’s quite difficult for a jerk to portray a great man. We saw him being a stand up man and showing incredibly encouraging concepts in movie after movie. He did it so elegantly and gave so many children a great role model, leader, and hero to look up to.

With the elections coming, I’ve heard friends talking about whether or not voting makes a difference for African Americans at all. Some were reminding us that we need people to run for politics, to be in positions of leadership, to stand up and be a people worth following in the steps of. With the tragedy of this weekend, I encourage you to remember great leaders who have inspired you- with both the small and the huge impacts they make. We are not done with this fight for equality. We need more people to stand up, and use their God-given calling to the greatest of their ability. Do not give up. Do not grow weary yet. And most importantly, do not forget.

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9