Four Years: A Tribute to Chadwick
Four years ago, Chadwick Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer, per reports. During that time, he acted in “Captain America: Civil War”, “Marshall”, “Black Panther”, “Captain America: Infinity War” and “Endgame”, “21 Bridges” and “Da 5 Bloods”. I saw “Black Panther” four times during its theatrical run. The film inspired me to develop curricula for SCOPES-DF.
“You might say that this African nation is fantasy,” says Boseman, who portrays T’Challa in the movie. “But to have the opportunity to pull from real ideas, real places and real African concepts, and put it inside of this idea of Wakanda — that’s a great opportunity to develop a sense of what that identity is, especially when you’re disconnected from it.”
In four years there still has been nothing like that moment when, on big theater screens and perhaps for the first time around the world, a vision of black grandeur was presented to the masses. “Black Panther”, with Chadwick Boseman at the helm, emerged from a dark time in the history of the United States to give people hope for the future.
This is what Boseman and the rest of the film’s cast and crew did for us.
His legacy has been secured. Boseman was the star of the highest-grossing superhero movie of all time, in North America and worldwide. We will forever know him as T’Challa, a character who lives in a world not devoid of racism but one in which black people have resources: wealth, technology and power to level the playing field — a scenario applicable to the world at large and the present moment.
Thank you, Mr. Boseman and may you rest in power.
