"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Isn't For You"

Rihanna [Music] it's been about a month now since black panther wakanda forever dropped and being a um black man I went and saw it on opening night it was mine and many others most anticipated film of 2022 and something I've been looking forward to ever since I saw the closing credits for the first movie start rolling as anybody who's even remotely familiar with the MCU knows 2018's black panther was more than just a movie it was an international cultural phenomenon felt in every corner of the world so the sequel definitely had some big shoes to fill in did it well not really but it's still a film that I thoroughly enjoyed proceeding with production after Chadwick's untimely death is an incredibly tricky thing to navigate and with the cards they were dealt with I honestly think that they went about it in the most respectful way possible after letting the movie marinate in my mind for the past few weeks I started to think back on what exactly made the first film such a big deal I mean at a glance it seems like a movie that was made with a very particular audience in mind but you don't do over 1.3 billion dollars at the box office by just pandering so who exactly is Black Panther for about a week prior to wakanda forever's Premiere I saw a video that addressed this very topic and had some interesting things to say that video came from tick tock now having this context it was foolish of me to even expect any level of critical thinking from there but the video still continues to live rent free in my head this message is to all our would-be accomplices and white allies this message is to all the white people who have BLM in their bio if you really want to prove to black people that you love us and you care about us and you are down for the cause do not go see that movie opening weekend you buy your ticket you give it to a black person or a black family who can't afford to go and then you go sit at that theater in front of the doors you make sure that every black person in that theater can enjoy that movie in peace you make sure that you use your body to block us from anybody who would be coming in that theater to do us harm that is your job you can go see it on another weekend go see it on the second or third weekend but the first weekend that's for us to do anything other than this is anti-black you know what's interesting to me is the fact that she speaks about people being pro-black or anti-black but is referencing a film about an African country I mean I could just as easily say that she shouldn't watch the premiere because this is a movie for us Africans not black people that's right at the start of the video when I said I was black I was actually lying I'm African and as we know those are two very distinct unrelated things man I remember a few years back when YouTuber Long Beach Griffey tweeted that Africans aren't black and we all collectively looked at our skin and when well well I I guess I'm purple then look the distinction between being black and being African is not when I'm particularly fond of but it's nothing new I've personally met people that told me I'm not black because I'm an immigrant so my ancestors weren't slaves meaning that I'm not black the term black exclusively applies to Black Americans so you can imagine my surprise when I've repeatedly heard that I'm not black but then see black people claiming African culture and in the case of that particular video feeling entitled enough to try and gatekeep it from white people and it's not just black panther any accomplishment made by an African or impressive piece of African history will be claimed as black while a distinction is drawn for Less favorable things whoa what happened did you know the wealthiest man to ever live was black not as wealthy as Elon Musk and Warren Buffett then both of them combined his name was Mansa Musa he was a West African ruler I beg your pardon I beg your pardon look if you want to say Africans aren't black cool but don't ever let me catch you rocking a dashiki or whining and grinding to burn a boy don't get me wrong this isn't a one-sided thing there are plenty of Africans who try and distance themselves from African Americans to them the first word of that classification doesn't make any sense why is African still in the name when that group has effectively lost all direct ties to that Homeland what claim do they have to the word African it's it's kind of like a white person who just did a 23 in me and tells you well um actually I'm 50 German three percent polish 20 Russian 25 Irish like dog just just say you're white negative stereotypes of the other group exist on both sides a lot of Africans think of African Americans as unruly and thuggish and African Americans think of Africans as well [Music] so does this mean that the only people who are black are American and everybody else isn't personally I don't think so the black diaspora is not monolithic and to try and play such a rigid definition on a word as broad as black is incredibly misguided the meaning of the word is not uniformed throughout the world depending on who you ask what it means to be black you'll be getting one of thousands if not millions of different answers in my native Nigerian language the word we use to describe any one of African ancestry is just our word for the word black and although all these different groups do have many things that set them apart there's still something to be said about the shared experience that comes from simply looking like each other an African immigrant Living in America and a black person whose family has been there for Generations are prone to facing a lot of the same day-to-day hardships because whether we like it or not people primarily judge based on physical appearance do you really think somebody gets pulled over in the cops is like let's see here uh what's your name oh okay you're not black you're African my bad my bad have a good day you can go there are still countless other things we can relate on besides whether or not we're the descendants of slaves I mean as far as being taken advantage of by colonizers goes Africans got their own history of that the effects of which still live on to this day I find it ironic that black panther is what's being used to draw more lines in the sand when the movie's themes preach the complete opposite but before we get into that I want to take a moment to shout out this video's sponsor brilliant brilliant is an online learning platform with a focus on math and science it aims to make these subjects more accessible through intuitive Hands-On exercises in place of traditional lectures the website offers thousands of lessons with new exclusive content added every month back in grade school I was the weird kid sitting next to the when are we ever going to use this kid I was the kid who actually enjoyed doing math and science of course that all changed when I got to University and the problem started looking more like abstract paintings than actual words running through a few slides just isn't enough to properly learn something new and I always ended up spending way too much time having to teach myself as a stem major I found brilliant to be an invaluable tool for self-teaching Math and Science the interactive lessons allow you to visualize the concepts so you learn by doing instead of just reading but it's not just for stem students brilliant offers everything from the very Basics to Advanced lessons making it ideal for people who are looking to learn but aren't too fond of a classroom setting or even professionals looking to brush up on their math skills to get started for free visit brilliant.org nasu or click the link in the description the first 200 of you who sign up will get 20 off brilliant's annual premium subscription and now back to the video wakanda is an isolationist country that doesn't involve itself with any International conflict despite being well equipped to do so in jobu the former King's brother objects to these policies and dies for it his son Eric killmonger one of a wakandan father and an American mother grows up to adopt the same mindset and devises a plan to use wakanda's resources to arm people of African descent all around the world and inside a revolution when he confronts to child in wakanda he mentions how wakanda sits by and does nothing while all around the world people who look like us live in oppression while some people found this line to be corny I think the wording was incredibly deliberate he's not just talking about wakandans he's not just talking about Black Americans he means every single black person around the world which shows killmonger's strong sense of pan-africanism an ideology that the wakandans don't subscribe to killmonger is also American he was born in the states and experienced firsthand what it's like to grow a black the west and not having slave ancestors didn't stop his father from empathizing with their plight Eric found his father killed by their own people who then turned their back on him killmonger represents the pure unbridled rage felt by many black Americans and having so much taken from them and he wants all that smoke his extreme direct action approach is contrasted with the African inclination to stick to tradition I can't speak for the whole continent but as a Nigerian I can't tell you how many Traditions are kept alive because of the simple reason of that's how it's always been while ultimately t'challa does stop killmonger's plan he does put an end to wakanda's isolationism and becomes a more active party in international Affairs the effect that killmonger had on the country is directly responsible for the events that happen in the sequel I don't know about y'all but I sure as hell don't think that past wakanda would have really put their own people at risk for some random black teenager in Massachusetts they abandoned their user them mentality from the first film in favor of one that's more open to those outside their borders because like a great artist once said us Ain't That different or something like that I don't I don't remember the quote in spite of the negative stereotypes on both sides there's still a mutual appreciation for each other I'm gonna let you in on a little secret they love Michael Jackson in Africa and future of all people wouldn't be filling up venues and Legos if the whole continent hated him many Africans only interaction with the US is through their pop culture which leads to them looking at the country with heavily Rose tinted glasses a lot of my cousins back in Nigeria be like he puts me in your suitcase and take me back with you to America I I will be whatever I will be your butler I will be homeless I just want to go nah bro you don't understand the cost of living there is different and it'll be a lot harder to get by no no no you do not understand I will literally Clean Cover toilets if I can go to America now bring the suitcase as for African Americans tendency to co-opt African culture as their own I get it where most people can track their Roots back to a particular country and connect with that culture that's not something they can do imagine only being able to trace your lineage back a few centuries and then hitting a dead end even those who are genuinely interested in reconnecting with their roots and learning about their culture don't have that option because it was taken away from them and that's something that I'm incredibly sympathetic to a lot of folks are just looking for that greater sense of culture and tradition one that dates back farther than the transatlantic slave trade black panther put African culture on the big screen like never before like I mentioned in my diversity video hearing my native tongue being spoken in a major Hollywood production while sitting in a pack theater was never something I needed until I got it and it's not an experience that I'ma forget anytime soon the film portrayed Africans in a way that was antithetical to The Stereotype people were hella proud and celebrated the event its why to this day it's still the best performing film in both east and west Africa black panther gave African Americans a way to engage with African culture removed from Real World lineage whether you're a descendant of slaves or not wakanda is a fictional place that anybody can be proud of lastly and perhaps most important to the film's success it was just a fun superhero flick something that anyone can enjoy including wouldn't you know it white people in fact black panther was originally created by two Jewish guys who saw that comic books were severely lacking in black superheroes granted the version of the superhero we have today undoubtedly got where it was due to the Creative Vision of many black writers but I can appreciate the fact that it was ultimately white writers who use their unique position to take the first step starring her her own comic it would have never happened years ago we're saying goodbye to somebody who as far as we're concerned had a major major impact on our lives and on the industry and so whatever his motives were he done good if somebody anybody regardless of race enjoys something that has a deeper meaning to you then I find it incredibly hard to see that as anything other than good wouldn't you want as many people as possible to enjoy the same thing that you love the last thing I would want to do is put a fence up around it it's like some people really be remembering Dr King's Speech differently from the rest of us I have a dream that one day on the red he funds of former slaves and the sons of former slave owner will they be able to sit down together at the table of Brotherhood I have a dream that one day those same sons of former slaves will go out of their way to segregate themselves once again yes I have a dream at the end of the day man it's just words on a screen no one has the ability to actually stop people from seeing a movie I just thought it was an interesting talking point but at the same time it's actually not just words on a screen because they're genuinely people who think like this which baffles me oh and to answer the question who is Black Panther for if the answer isn't already obvious at this point it's for whoever the hell wants to watch it that's it for this video see y'all in the next one oh and for the love of God if somebody lacking melanin gives the movie a bad review respond with something a little more constructive than just saying but you're white [Music]

Channel: Nasu

Views: 218,137

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Id: rGldCnZNN0M

Length: 14min 13sec (853 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 16 2022