(Left) Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry—better know for his stage name Stepin Fetchit—was billed as “the Laziest Man in the World.” Playing the dumb, slow, foot-shufflin’, Uncle Tom Negro in Hollywood films from the late ‘20’s through the ‘50s, he became the first black actor to earn a million dollars during his career.
White supremacy uses the media in all of its forms at both the conscious and subliminal levels to constantly reinforce the message that the white-skinned man is the alpha and omega of this world; he is supreme to all nonwhites and he alone controls their fate. Outside of the Western world’s educational system, cinema and television have been the dominant carriers of these messages for the past 100 years.
Like the missionaries and their holy book, it’s no mere coincidence that during the first 40-plus years of Hollywood’s existence its major studios forbade any dignified portrayal of Blacks while at the same time it degraded and ridiculed them on the big screen and television sets. It wasn’t until the late 1950’s before Blacks were offered any dignified roles in Hollywood. White supremacy has always understood the power of the media to mold the human mind.
The devastating psychological effects of white supremacy imagery and propaganda on Black people (and all other nonwhite people ) are manifested in a variety ways from the extraordinary to the mundane, for example the drastic change in Michael Jackson’s physical appearance, or why Black folks judge each other based on how light or dark their skin is, calling straight hair good and kinky hair bad, or even how all colored nations in the world discriminate against the darker skin tone versions of their own races. Of course, I can go on and on listing the negative psychological effects to include Black folks’—pride and joy—over a comic book superhero.
Control the message, you control the mind.
Control the faith, you control the soul.
Control both message and faith, you control the man.
Now let’s begin to examine how all of what I previously discussed fits into my case against Hollywood and the Black Panther movie. And why Black folks should think twice before praising this movie as the best thing since emancipation; or even claiming this comic book character as something worthy to embrace.
Black Panther’s debut in Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four #52 in July of 1966.
Why the Black Panther is not my comic book superhero
Let’s start from the beginning:
The Black Panther—noted for being the first black comic book superhero–is the invention of two White Jewish men Stanley Martin Lieber “Stan Lee” and Jacob Kurtzberg “Jack Kirby.” Lee and Kirby introduced the character to the public for the first time in Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four #52 in July of 1966. Storyline:
The “African chieftain” Black Panther (he wasn’t called a king back then) invites the Fantastic Four to Wakanda to participate in the greatest hunt of all time. The Black panther seals the deal by sending them one of his aircraft as gift to use for their trip. When the Fantastic Four arrive, the Black Panther plays a trick on them by hunting them down in the jungle one by one, defeating all four of the Fantastic Four, with a little assistance from native clad Wakanda warriors (message: you can’t trust them Negroes no matter how uppity or rich they get). However, at the end of the day the Fantastic Four are rescued from the Black Panther by a clever white man who has no superpowers. Really. That’s how they play us.
Click the following link to see video illustration and commentary of Black Panther’s first appearance.
For two decades prior to the civil rights movement in America, Lee and Kirby worked in the industry at various capacities helping to produce comic books, oftentimes depicting some of the most racist imagery and dialog of the day. By the way, Stan Lee made a cameo appearance in the 2018 Black Panther movie.
The Black Panther was more or less a sidekick appearing sporadically with the Fantastic Four, Avengers and other Marvel superheroes, It wasn’t until 1973 when the Black Panther appeared in his own comic book series titled–Jungle Action—(1973-1976). By this time there were new writers who did delve into deeper topic matters that gave the Black Panther a little”soul food” in particular in the editions of Jungle Action’s Panther’s Rage. But this wasn’t enough to erase the initial damage already done and it wasn’t long-lived.
It’s no secret that comic books are written for white audiences and a Black superhero from Africa gave the artists ample opportunity to continue depicting other African characters in stereotypically demeaning ways in order to appease their readers. Some have even speculated that the whole idea of making a rich, black Africa chieftain a superhero, heading the most advanced country on Marvel’s Earth, was a fear tactic to rile up more white readers during the height of the civil rights movement in the mid to late ‘60s. It this was Marvel’s plans they were the victims of bad timing. just three months after the debut of the Black Panther superhero, Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton formed the Black Panther Party on October 15, 1966 in Oakland, California.
By 1972, the so-called negativity and controversy surrounding the Black Panther Party caused Marvel Studios to briefly change the name of the Black Panther to the Black Leopard—they didn’t want to offend their white readers.
In 1998, Christopher Priest briefly became the first Black writer of the Black Panther character, before parting ways with Marvel. Black, author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates took on the writing duties for the’ Black Panther in 2016. However, Coates was not credited with any involvement in the 2018 Black Panther movie. 2017 saw Black female writer Nnedi Okorafor make her mark in the Black Panther series Long Live the King.
Even though the Black Panther comic book superhero has had a few Black writers–they don’t own the rights to the character. Therefore, they can’t make the character into something the owner doesn’t want it to be.
The bottom line on the Black Panther comic book character
The Black Panther comic book superhero is a very problematic proposition for me due to it 1) being created by white men who early on used the character to appease their white audience by introducing stereotypically drawn, dubious black characters running around wearing loincloth in the jungles of Africa. 2) Changing a supposed black comic book superhero’s name because of the connotations with the Black Party Movement. 3) intentionally making The Black Panther a non-threating-to-white-people xenophobe only concerned with the characters of Wakanda. 4) The Black Panther was created by white men and the rights are owned by white men who will always be more concerned with pleasing their white audiences and maintaining the system of white supremacy.
Now that we know the original source of the Black Panther comic book character, let’s take a peek at the Black Panther Movie
Black Panther the movie: major players
The producer of the Black Panther is, Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige, a White man. The producer is responsible for hiring the writer and director and oftentimes helps develop the script of the movie with the writer(s). More importantly, the producer controls the finished product of the movie.
Don’t let all the press hubbub surrounding, Black director, Ryan Coogler, being some kind of “auteur” of the Black Panther movie and the next coming of Steven Spielberg fool you. Even though Coogler also shared writing credits with another Black man, Joe Robert Cole, the producer of a movie runs the show. The only folks that can overrule a Kevin Feige decision are the owners of his company.
Marvel Studios is owned by Walt Disney Studios, also the distributor of the Black Panther movie. Since its beginning in the late 1920’s, Walt Disney Studios has been the most insidiously prolific purveyor of white supremacy imagery and dogma the world has ever known–Disney rams it down your throat in all manners–onscreen and offscreen–from the cradle to the grave. And there is nothing better than molding a mind from the moment of birth.
Walt Disney Studios made all the final calls on the Black Panther movie.
It’s all about the messaging
While Black folks continue to play checkers, the white man continues to hone and refine his skills on the chess board. While Black folks see television, movies, music and even sports as entertainment–the ministers of white supremacy see them as messaging opportunities. 24/7/365, consciously and subconsciously, white supremacy is messaging.
Unfortunately, Blacks folks are too busy being happy to finally see a big budget Hollywood movie featuring a fictitious black superhero that they are blinded to its messaging. Once again–Black folks are hoodwinked and bamboozled by the man.
To further complicate this particular white supremacy hoodwink and bamboozlement, you will be hard pressed to see or hear any Black person, who derives his or her livelihood through Hollywood or from any media sources, publicly speak ill about the Black Panther movie. The fear of being shunned by their peers and/or even being black listed from futures projects will keep those who do see the messaging from openly criticizing the movie.
So for those Black folk that can only see the Black Panther as entertainment because Hollywood finally gave you a big screen superhero, let me share what I saw.
The Black Panther movie messaging
Seven Hidden Messages Found in the Black Panther Movie | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | The Black Panther is a comic book character created and owned by white men. | |
| Message: Blacks can’t even create their own superhero—we got to do everything for them. | ||
| 2. | Walt Disney thought so much of this film and of Africa—they didn’t shoot a single scene of footage in Africa. | |
| Message: We really don’t care about Africa except to take its resources and use its people as a source of cheap labor and to make fun of them whenever we get the opportunity. | ||
| 3. | The story is problematic King T’Challa, (Chadwick Boseman) is the Black Panther and leader of the fictional African nation of Wakanda that appears to outsiders as a third world country. However, brilliantly camouflaged underneath Wakanda’s exterior is the most technologically advanced city on earth, powered by a mythical mineral resource called Vibranium which is only found in Wakanda. This is where the white supremacy messaging starts to take hold. In the most technologically advanced country on earth–anyone can physically challenge its king to a fight and if he or she beats the king they become the new leader. What? You mean to tell me this is how the most advanced nation on Marvel’s planet Earth decides its leadership? C’mon man!. | |
| Message: No matter how advanced they are Blacks are uncivilized jungle savages. | ||
| 4. | King T’Challa is challenged by Erik Stevens aka “Killmonger” (Michael B. Jordan). Killmonger is T’Challa’s cousin, born and raised in Oakland, CA. In real life, Oakland, CA is birth place of the Black Panther Party. The character Killmonger is a Black freedom fighter that wants to use Wakanda’s Vibranium and technological superiority to liberate Blacks around the world. | |
| Message: The Black Panther Party also wanted to liberate black people. Was it always the Black Panther character creator’s original intention to use the Black Panther superhero as a scare tactic among white people during the civil rights movement to drive up sales? | ||
| 5. | King T’Challa wants none of that! This king is a xenophobic nationalist leader who only cares about his country. To hell with helping oppressed Black people around the world—let alone his neighbors on the continent of Africa. | |
| Message: King T’Challa is the Black Panther–he is supposed to be the good guy–the supehero. Killmonger who sincerely wants to liberate his people is the bad guy. Need I say more? | ||
| 6. | Killmonger soundly defeats T’Challa fair and square, leaving him for dead after throwing him from atop a waterfall. Immediately after claiming the throne and receiving the powers of the Black Panther, Killmonger sets out on his lifelong mission to liberate Black people around the world. | |
| Message: Oh hell no! This isn’t going to go down. Even though this is a fictitious movie we got to teach a lesson to this militant Negro that any Black man trying to free his people from oppression dies–like Patrice Lumumba, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. | ||
| 7. | Marvel movie magic! miraculously, T’Challa survived his fall from atop the waterfall and comes back to “finish” the challenge between him and the newly crowned King Killmonger. Of course, T’Challa—the good Negro– defeats Killmonger to regain his throne. However, T’Challa and his warriors are only able to stop Killmonger from sending Wakanda’s arsenal across its camouflaged border with the help of a white man with no superpowers, U.S. State Department employee Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) saves the day by piloting a Wakanda aircraft to shoot them down. | |
| Message: I told you Killmonger was a dead man we only like good Negro leaders that are only concerned with their own county and who only work through us. And you know no matter how much superpower you have Black Panther, it always takes a white man to save the world. | ||
Instructions from Mr. White Supremacy/Hollywood: How white supremacy laughs at black people
These scenes actually happened in the movie
- Mr. White Supremacy says, “Since we paid for this movie and allowed for so many of you Black folks to be in it, we need some stereotypical racist imagery for my white folks, so they feel comfortable and not too upset at me for releasing this movie. So give us a scene with some big, menacing, savagely–dressed, black fellas ignorantly grunting like apes. I’m telling you my folks will be so appreciative. Also throw in some Tarzan like stuff with primitive type voodoo rituals and black guys and gals all decked out in native garb fighting each other with spears and knives. And make sure to get plenty of scenes of the guy with the big, long plate in his lip. Whew wee! My folks always did love them Tarzan movies.
- Oh, oh, and you know at the end of the show we got to have King T’Challa give an Obama-like Kumbaya speech at the United Nations. He has to assure white folks he wants to work with them even though he does have all that superior weaponry. Because you know–even though it’s a fictitious movie, some of our white folk ain’t too sharp and they may think this is real, or at least could be.
- Yes. And a, when the Black Panther’s space ship lands in the Oakland playground at the end of the movie, make sure to have those black boys standing around the ship talking about how they are going to strip it down for parts and steal it. My folks expect that kind of behavior. It’s going to be hard enough trying to suspend white minds to believe there are black people more technologically advanced than them. We have to bring them back into reality, after that awful shock they been through for over two hours.
- OK, OK, now get this: at the very end of the credits for the movie, have a clip of that white Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) aka the Winter Soldier coming out of a tent in Africa. And when he comes out have some little black African boys looking up at him like he is Jesus in the flesh. And then show the Black Panther’s sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright), standing there, too, looking like she may have even just slept with Bucky. You know how our white boys love them black bed wenches. Yes, that’s what we leave them with. It lets our good-paying white folks still feel that this Black Panther isn’t more important than the rest of the Marvel franchise. But rest assured–we are still gonna’ ride this black monkey–I mean Black Panther money cart like there ain’t no tomorrow!
In Conclussion
No other continent on this planet better represents the fruits of the “Great White Conqueror” than does Africa—the motherland of all humankind which possess the most precious and abundant natural resources in the world.
Africa’s kidnapped and enslaved human stock created the wealth allowing white supremacy to flourish and expand. White supremacy returned to Africa, plundering its precious minerals, and thereby increasing the standard of living in their “white homelands.”
Africa is the spark that started the fire of white supremacy; Africa is the ember that still keeps the flame alive.
The 1884/1885 Berlin Conference-—attended by 13 European nations and the U.S.— sanctioned that from North to South and from East to West the continent of Africa would be sliced up among them, looted and completely controlled by white supremacy. By the early 1900s, Africa had become a plaything for white supremacy/Hollywood, held up to show its contempt for black-skinned people and as a source of pride for the great white hunter/conqueror.
This is why when Marvel created the Black Panther character back in the 1960’s —they wanted the lion’s share of the action to take place in Africa—even spotlighting the superhero’s first solo appearance in the comic book series “Jungle Action” (1973). This was a practice Marvel and other comic book creators and Hollywood films had done for decades, where they could poke fun at Africans depicting them as dumb savages with tribal conflicts and then hold the white man up as their civilized conqueror and savior.
Fast forward to the year 2018: For the first time in history white supremacy/Hollywood produces a film featuring a black comic book superhero and a majority black cast where the lion’s share of the action takes place in Africa. And no mater how advanced this make-believe Wakanda is supposed to be—you see Black people running around carrying spears, fighting each other like savages and grunting like apes. And of course a white man helps to save the day.
Now I see and hear grown, intelligent Black adults on TV and in person, flashing the Wakanda-arms-crossed greeting and saying crazy BS like, “Wakanda forever.”
Are you kidding me?
White supremacy/Hollywood just gave you a fictitious, boot-licking, Uncle Tom, xenophobic comic book superhero and you’re happy and full of pride because you can see a lot of Black folks running around on the big screen?
Some Black folks are hooked! Locked inside a make-believe Wakanda worshiping a comic book super hero created by white supremacy. You’re pacified by white supremacy/Hollywood, while they continue to strip clean your motherland, neutralize your civil rights in the U.S. and tell your African brothers and sisters and all nonwhites, “You’re not welcomed to America anymore.” All of this while messaging to the world—the Black Panther is how a good Negro leader should behave. And white folks can take comfort, playing along, getting their laughs and having their feelings of superiority reinforced.
Breaking News: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Black Panther movie worldwide gross, as of February 25, 2017: $700 million-plus.
Hoodwinked and Bamboozled.
So this is why after seeing the Black Panther movie, I felt like a hot pitchfork had been jabbed deep into my soul.