Page 2 The Skanner February 28, 2018
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Challenging People to Shape
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Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Was Erik Killmonger Right About Wakanda?
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
This commentary contains
major spoilers.
M
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2017
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arvel’s big screen ad-
aptation of “Black Pan-
ther” has surpassed
all initial expectations
of its debut and topped $700
million after its second week-
end.
“In terms of raw dollars,
it is the second-biggest sec-
ond weekend gross of all
time between Universal/
Comcast Corp.’s Jurassic
World ($106.5m) and Lu-
casfilm’s The Force Awak-
ens ($149m),” Forbes.com
reported. “It has now earned
$400m in ten days of release,
which makes it the third-fast-
est grosser of all time (for
now) behind only Jurassic
World ($404m) and The Force
Awakens ($540m).”
If anything, the success of
“Black Panther” and “Girl’s
Trip,” last year, has proven to
the world that representation
and inclusion is profitable.
When I went to see Black
Panther during the open-
ing weekend, the excitement
from the crowd radiated
throughout the theater’s lob-
by. The joy I inhaled while
standing in line to enter the
theater took me higher than
a preacher’s Sunday sermon.
The drums and opening
verse to Kendrick Lamar’s
“Black Panther” echoed in my
head:
King of my city, king of
my country, king of my
homeland
King of the filthy, king of the
fallen, we livin’ again
King of the shooters, looters,
boosters, and ghettos poppin’
King of the past, present,
future, my ancestors watchin
I loved the film, but all of
us should remember that
Lynette
Monroe
NNPA Guest
Columnist
Wakanda is a figment of
imagination. More accurate-
ly, Wakanda is a creation of
White imagination. Killmon-
ger is “our” reality.
A fictional Wakanda is con-
venient for the consciousness
of the colonizer. A fictional,
technologically
advanced,
African utopia lightens the
weight of oppression by using
the singular case of Black ex-
cellence, embodied in Wakan-
da, as the benchmark instead
of a beautiful, aspirational
anomaly. It then places the re-
sponsibility of reconciliation
on the backs of the oppressed.
Champions of truth must
not only embrace the tri-
umphs of our history, but also
the painful, complicated facts
of our past.
Erik Killmonger represents
an uncomfortable truth. He
is the Black Panther’s kryp-
tonite. The pain of Killmon-
ger’s conflicted reality dis-
rupts T’Challa’s idealistic,
progressive world. The ulti-
mate victory of Black Panther
is only secured through a
cinematic miracle. Even then,
the Black Panther cannot find
it in himself to end the life of
Killmonger; it is Killmonger
himself who chooses his own
end after his final battle with
T’Challa.
“Bury me in the ocean with
my ancestors who jumped
from ships, because they
knew death was better than
bondage,” Killmonger said in
his final scene as he watched
the sunset on Wakanda.
Centuries of resilience isn’t
some kind of honor; it is sim-
ply survival.
Although we would all like
for Wakanda to exist, today,
it doesn’t. The painful truth is
that Black people were force-
fully dispersed throughout
the globe, isolated from our
culture, countries and fam-
ilies. The painful truth is
that the campaign of carnage
that White people have lead
“
Centuries
of resilience
isn’t some
kind of hon-
or; it is simply
survival
across the globe cannot be
reconciled through broad aid
and well-intentioned commu-
nity centers.
Partnership and collabo-
ration, two of the many un-
derlying themes of the film,
prove elusive for Killmonger.
The love between Okoye and
W’Kabi ended civil war. The
connection between the spir-
itual world and technology is
the lifeline of the nation. The
cooperation of M’Baku and
Ramonda brought hope back
to life. And, the love between
Nakia and the T’Challa is slat-
ed to save the world.
Killmonger was not be-
stowed the privilege of part-
nership.
My knowledge of comic
book adaptations is limited to
Superman and the X-Men; in
both movie franchises, char-
acters faced deep moral de-
cisions. These decisions are
most often a test of character
or weight of priority. These
films, set in city centers, of-
ten display massive property
damaged and presumed loss
of innocent life. However, the
central internal conflict in
Black Panther centered upon
killing the radical pursuit of
freedom.
Killmonger is a villain of
White culture, the worst
nightmare of the ruling class.
Killmonger is the rage of a
millions of people who were
displaced, disregarded, and
discarded. “The Black Pan-
ther” is a fictional depiction
of the moral consciousness
of Black people; the hope for
both the oppressed and the
oppressor. He is the grace of
God to a people undeserving.
Mainstream dialogue on
race relations in the United
States naively suggests that
White people simply refuse to
acknowledge that the crimes
of American slavery and the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade
continue to fuel significant
disparities across the planet.
I would argue that they are
fully aware of their crimes,
but interpret them through
a filtered lens of conquest. I
would argue that White peo-
ple’s conscious relegation of
persons of color is reduced to
collateral damage necessary
to maintain power, wealth,
and leadership.
As Killmonger fell, I longed
for a Black Panther/Killmon-
ger partnership. The partner-
ship of rage and compassion,
of power and responsibility,
of justice and reconciliation
deserves exploration. Resolv-
ing the conflict between the
Black Panther and Killmon-
ger is the precarious tight
rope that Black folks must
walk to freedom.
Killmonger’s death is also
a figment of White people’s
imagination; his conflicted
fight for freedom lives on in
the hearts of Black people
across the globe.
Oregon House Bill Could Hurt Medical Research
SPECIAL ISSUE:
BACK TO SCHOOL
August 16
in y o u r c o m m u n
Opinion
reetings I am Pastor
E.D. Mondaine, a local
Portland Oregon Pas-
tor, community leader,
small business owner, entre-
preneur, and I am in oppo-
sition to Oregon House Bill
4005.
HB 4005, proposes to man-
date biopharmaceutical com-
panies to disclose propriety
information. The passage of
this could severely hurt our
community and others.
My concern is that HB 4005
could hurt and severely hin-
der the hard work for com-
panies to do research and
development that have the
potential of producing medi-
cations that could help people
in the Communities of Color.
Statistics prove that there are
higher rates of breast cancer
and other forms of cancer
that affect African American
communities.
There is an urgent need for
these companies to be em-
Pastor E.D.
Mondaine
Guest
Columnist
powered to find cures and
produce better medications
for diseases such as diabetes,
hypertension and sickle cell
anemia.
The measures of HB 4005
disregard the fact that med-
icines are not the dominant
drivers for healthcare-send-
ing
growth.
Healthcare
spending growth is due to
other factors and healthcare
services such as long-term
care, hospitalization and pro-
vider services.
From my perspective, this
bill is not truly “transparent”
and doesn’t require other
players in the supply chain
to the same transparency re-
quirements. I can’t identify
anywhere in it language, the
benefit to patients.
There are other measures
that would most assuredly
help close the gap of disparity
where it concerns affordable
medication to marginalized
and disenfranchised commu-
nities which include:
• prohibiting
insurance
plans that switch drug cov-
erage in the middle of the
year;
• requiring that insurance
carriers offer a co-pay plan
to help patients manage
costs;
• requiring more transparen-
cy in drug coverage so that
patients shopping for an
insurance plan can under-
stand what their medica-
tion out-of-pocket exposure
will be.
All of the above listed policy
options were readily available
to implement this year, how-
ever, we are wasting valuable
time on addressing abstract
legislation that at best is un-
fruitful. that will deliver zero
benefit to patients. Simply
requiring biopharmaceutical
companies to disclose pric-
ing, which they are already
required to do under federal
law, will not help patients.
I fail to see where this new
measure would neither ben-
efit patients nor decrease
healthcare costs.
I am in opposition HB 4005
and urge you to be as well.
My hope is to encourage you
to call or email any state leg-
islator that you know and tell
them to not vote in favor of
this bill.
You can find your state sena-
tors and state representatives
at
www.oregonlegislature.
gov/pages/mobile.aspx
Respectfully submitted,
Pastor E.D. Mondaine Jr.
nt •
lo c a l n e w s •
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