Spies Like Me: Black American & African Identities in Black Panther, The Movie
by Jolivette Anderson-Douoning
T'Chaka and N'Jobu are not just brothers, they are two nations, two continents in a relationship that goes back thousands of years.
One brother (the older) stays in Africa to learn from their father how to become king. The other brother (younger one) ventures to America (Oakland, CA) to live and report back to his homeland what is happening. He becomes troubled with the state of those that look like him, those who like him are Africans.
Both brothers have the same mission, the same desire. They want to help 'their people'. However, there is a problem. Their people have been scattered far and long away from the peace and beauty that is their home. Those who stayed are calm, confident, rooted in their traditions with no feeling of obligation to those who are "LOST" to the outside world. Even with information being sent home by "SPIES and the spies sent to spy on spies -- those who know the truth of the homeland but who choose to live in other parts of the world, going on missions to assist the "LOST" ones-- the king of the fictional Wakanda, King T'Chaka and the kings before him chose to NOT use their resources to help those in America (and other places around the world). This becomes a "sin of the father that gets visited upon his son".
While no king is perfect, King T'Chaka's crime, his sin, passed down to his son T'Challa, comes back to haunt T'Challa and could ultimately destroy Wakanda and the world. Cousins would continue the war, the foundational disagreement between two brothers, that resulted in opposing forces claiming the throne. Without giving away details, I will simply say here that IT IS THOSE FORCES, the ones that live in each of us as human beings, that are at play in the movie Black Panther and in the RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AFRICANS AND BLACK AMERICANS today.
T'Challa says to N'Jadaka, "We can heal you", but N'Jadaka refuses his help on his belief that he would be jailed for the wrong he has done. His next line made me groan and squirm in my seat in the theater to the point of tears. N'Jadaka says to T'Challa, no bury me in the ocean with my ancestors from the Middle Passage, they knew it was better to die than to be in bondage [paraphrase].
Of all the scenes in the film, this one is but the beginning of the pain felt by N'Jobu and I dare say, spies like me who see the pain of the Black American experience. Knowing full well there is a history untold that if / when embraced, can heal our souls because we are NOT the savages America has convinced us to believe we are.
We are what we have become because our humanity was challenged and after so many years many of us have succumb to the terror, torture and pain of generational trauma to the point of seeing the softer, gentler side of ourselves, in harmony with nature and each other, as something weak and powerless.
Now, in this day and age, America (through media, music, etc.) encourages Africans on the Continent to turn away from traditions-- to embrace the survivor's way in the land where they have been historically denied resources to fully uplift and reorient Black identities back toward a place of peace and confidence in knowing ones purpose found in thousands of years of being, quite simply, extraordinary human beings.
To be clear, the role of the colonizer of Africa, America, and other parts of the world were not lost on me as I think about what I saw. These are but first thoughts and are what sticks out as most important to me thus far.
The love story, beautifully built and executed. The honor and respect for elders and Ancestors and the keepers of the culture and traditions, yes, strongly and steadfastly represented throughout. Strangely enough to me, my favorite character was 'little sister' to T'Challa because she acted like I think EVERYBODY'S LITTLE SISTER ACTS all the time (smile). The White folk not being the heroes and always questioned and not-fully trusted, yep that was in there too. Even the Jabari Tribe in the mountains representing our differences and a people, I felt it all.
But, most importantly, I witnessed the system, the CODES OF CONDUCT WE USED TO WORK THROUGH OUR DIFFERENCES AND DISAGREEMENTS WITHOUT MURDER -- until the 'lost one' brought that pain, that 'why didn't you come help us energy into what we held as SACRED.
Let's think about that.... taking my 11 year old again for a round two of this film to catch nuances we may have missed the first time.
(to be continued) Love to All and WAKANDA FOREVER!
by Jolivette Anderson-Douoning aka JA the poet warrior
