(EDITOR) When I was a kid, I was very into comics and there were some that were more intriguing than others. The Black Panther series grabbed my attention and fueled my imagination with it’s singular vision of Black Futurism. As a comic, it was totally unique as it’s depiction of Wakanda was anything but tribal generic. That borderline psychedelic depiction of African culture wasn’t just bound between the covers of the comic. Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Parliament, Fela Kuti, Afrika Bambataa, Chicago House, and Detroit Techno, are a musical analog for the illustrated version of the Black Panther.
I haven’t seen the movie (looks amazing) and this really interesting piece washed up on the shores of my inbox. Daphne Mallory has crafted a really tight review of the film blending it’s narrative, the intense social dynamics of Liberia, the current political theater in West Africa and of course astrology.
The Black Panther Movie…The Coming African Civil War? (Daphne Mallory)
While everyone was praising Kendrick Lamar ( the writer of the Black Panther’s soundtrack) and his performance at the 60th Grammy Awards, I witnessed an unsettling message that would later be reinforced by The Black Panther Movie: Displaced West Africans around the world must take revenge and come into power throughout West Africa over the indigenous. Or, as I like to call it, Liberia 2.0. And as we’ve seen from Liberia’s history (and I am Liberian), it took two Civil wars to deal with the oppression of the Americo-Liberians over native Liberians. Is that the end game according to The Black Panther Movie? And if westernized Africans are seated in places of power throughout West Africa, will they really be in charge? Or put another way, what was the real role of Everett K. Ross? And why did President George Weah (Liberia’s new President sworn in January 22, 2018) state that he wants to open Liberian citizenship to other races, and to abolish the current ban on dual citizenship during his inaugural speech (just 22 days before the Black Panther Movie opened)?
First, let’s begin with Kendrick Lamar’s performance which laid the foundation for what was to come in the Black Panther Movie. For those of you who consider occult and metaphysical principles (or those who are at least curious), Lamar’s performance was exactly eight days after the sun ingressed into Aquarius and the movie debuted 19 days later, 2 days before the sun ingressed into Pisces and one day after the partial solar eclipse. The energy surrounding the birth of this movie into the public was heavily Aquarian, which in astrology, governs: tribes, groups, group hysteria, technology, unity for social justice, Atlantis, mass trauma, and revolutions. All of these themes are heavy in the Black Panther movie, and the promotion of it. However, Lamar’s performance shaped the collective subconscious about these themes, before the general public saw the movie (even if you didn’t watch it!). How? And what does this have to do with Liberia?
In the opening scene of Lamar’s performance, soldiers (once standing still) become animated and march in formation until they reveal Lamar in the middle. They appear to be wearing U.S. Army fatigues, with the added face masks. On a side note, during the Ebola outbreaks in Liberia, nearly 3,000 U.S. troops were deployed in Liberia. After the mission was complete, troops remained to work with Liberia’s armed forces. And as you can imagine, troops had to wear protective masks during the Ebola outbreaks. Interesting…
Then fire begins to fall from the sky as the soldiers dance in a determined fashion on stage. It looks like hell, much like the two civil wars that tore apart Liberia for so many years. I don’t have time to analyze all of Lamar’s performance here, but it’s no coincidence that he performs his hit song, DNA during this time. Was Lamar tapping into the subconscious of West Africans currently living in the West? Was Lamar calling for a revolution by those of us living in the West to rush in and take our rightful inheritance due to our DNA? Hmmm…let’s look some more.
Then Lamar seems to do a fight dance with his “light” side and eventually “gets rid” of her on stage after she submits to his will. In other words, as a West African, you can only claim your inheritance through revolution. Therefore, you need to subdue your light side, your morals, your religious beliefs, and everything you think is good to take on this mission and get yours. Once you win the battle within, you can win the battle without, as seen in the final act of his performance.
During the final act, he dances with a crowd all dressed in red to symbolize blood and carnage. One by one he fires on each and they fall dead. Each person in red seemingly represents a “weakness” as well as other Africans who may stand in your way. He changes the published lyrics to these during the performance: “burn your family, burn your tribe, burn your land, burn your children, burn your wives.” And the burning “this” and “that” went on. Each phrase was punctuated by a gunshot, and after everyone was dead, Lamar erupted in dance and song, “All hail King Killmonger!” So, is this a proposed strategy, and would the Black Panther Movie shed more light?
After the Grammy Awards, the Black Panther Movie is released and we get to learn more about a possible motivation behind the instigation for a civil war in West Africa, and how it might play out. (SPOILER ALERT! WATCH THE MOVIE FIRST, THEN COME BACK.)
Killmonger is not a black american. He’s a West African. Wakanda is “fictional,” but the geography around this fictional land is West Africa. And by the way, I can make a case for the real country represented by Wakanda, and I’ll prove that in a separate article. Killmonger was abandoned in the United States by his uncle, in the projects. The audience can infer that he lived a hard life in poverty, which hardened his heart and turned him into a ruthless killer. He would seek to relive the pain of being abandoned in a foreign land by joining special forces, and fighting for his new country. Again, many West Africans can relate. Some fight for America. Others build communities and companies for America. Some fight for the equality of Americans. The list goes on.
As a result of the civil wars in Liberia, many children were sent to England, Holland, the US and other places without their parents (myself included). Many of us lived in economic poverty, but worse, we suffered poverty of spirit. We did not know our heritage or culture, because the adults who cared for us either did not know, or sought to Westernize us, thinking that it would be the key to our survival. However, as the “key” kept hidden in Killmonger’s lower lip, what we needed was to be taught our roots, including the spiritual traditions that make us unique. But I digress.
Killmonger makes his way back to Wakanda and challenges T’Challa for the throne by fighting him one on one. This symbolizes the fight between the those in the West coming back home and those who have remained in the various West African countries during many terrible wars. The citizens of Wakanda looking on represent the ancestors, the elders, women and children caught in the middle, and others who don’t want anything to do with war. But they may be dragged into it…again!
After T’Challa’s defeat, Killmonger ascends to the throne with one goal in mind: share the resources of Wakanda to arm other West Africans (I mean Wakandians) throughout the world so that they can be empowered as they fight…fight for survival…fight to take over…fight for whatever. However, Killmonger is met with resistance from within. Nakia, Romonda, Shuri and eventually Ayo foil his plans with the help of a neighboring tribe. And oh, with the help of Everett K. Ross, a white C.I.A operative!a
Did you know that according to the BBC, the US admits that former Liberian President Charles Taylor worked for the CIA?
This seems like a good place to share an excerpt from former President Charles Taylor’s speech:“I want to praise Almighty God for this nation, that at least this government was not overthrown and that anarchy did not exist where the constitution of this republic would be trampled upon. And I say, I warn and I urge, there is always this temptation when we have crises to let ideas come in. Liberia is a sovereign state and must remain. No nation, the United Nations, Ecowas, AU must never seize any opportunity to usurp our constitution and dictate to our people. The Liberian people must be left to determine their destiny.” Read the full speech here:This speech seems night and day from the newly sworn President Weah’s speech, which reminded me of T’Challa’s UN’s speech during the end credits of the movie. Here’s T’Challa’s speech:
“Wakanda will no longer watch from the shadows. We cannot. We must not.We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.”
Now here’s an excerpt from the speech delivered by Liberia’s President Weah on January 22, 2018:
“Since the founding of this country in 1847, more than 170 years ago, there have been certain restrictions on citizenship and property ownership that — in my view — have become serious impediments to the development and progress of this country. These restrictions include the limitation of citizenship only to black people, the limitation of property ownership exclusively to citizens, and the non-allowance of dual citizenship.”
“However, here in the 21st century, I am of the view that these threats no longer exist, and that these conditions have changed. In these circumstances, it is my view that keeping such a clause in our constitution is unnecessary, racist, and inappropriate for the place that Liberia occupies today in the comity of nations.
Read more here: https://frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/politics/6778-first-annual-message-pres-weah-opens-pandora-box-on-economy-citizenship.
It appears that both King T’Challa and President Weah want to “open up” their countries and bring people back from all over the world. Except, as the Black Panther Movie showed, this may not be without some costs. But with the help of outsiders, such as Everett Ross, and the Avengers, and the United Nations, this can all be carefully managed…right?
Let me say this to my fellow West Africans, who were displaced from their homeland due to war, and have resented a life of spiritual and economic poverty because of it. You’re right to feel angry because you’ve suffered (and many from childhood) and you’ve lost your inheritance. You are right to feel that you have lost true freedom and have no chance of getting it back until you’re back home. You have suffered the effects of the PTSD due to living in refugee camps, displacement all over the world and separation from your family and your culture. This PTSD may have produced a Killmonger that and must be dealt with regularly. And movies like The Black Panther, may trigger you yet again.
However, it is not right to let this Black Panther Movie or any other agenda dictate how you should react or respond to past trauma. It is not Marvel or the U.N. or anyone’s responsibility to tell you how to feel about your loss, or lead you down only one path to regain the loss of your wealth, technology, and natural resources. Determine for yourself how to best inherit what’s rightfully yours, without hysteria and without following the edict of someone else. Use emotional intelligence, strategy and read (and then re-read) The Art of War, by Sun Tzu.
Originally published on Medium.