On Heroes, Part II

 by Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham


“Killmonger is trying to achieve greatness…but there’s an expectation of greatness for me [as T'Challa, the Black Panther]...I don’t know if we as African-Americans would accept T’Challa as our hero if he didn’t go through Killmonger. Because Killmonger has been through our struggle, and I [as T’Challa, the Black Panther] haven’t”.

~ Chadwick Boseman, "T'Challa" / the Black Panther (2018), "Black Panther in Conversation", hosted by The Atlantic, AFROPUNK and The Apollo Theater, 27 February 2018

~ ❧ ~

"Isn't it two sides of the same coin?

Could the Civil Rights Movement in the United States have progressed without MalcolmX and the Black Panthers in addition to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thurgood Marshall?

Proportionate self-defense against unjust violence is also moral and legitimate and just means, and, in the Jim Crow South, African-American people were the victims of unjust organized violence on a daily basis...

While I am a great admirer of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thurgood Marshall (my natural inclination is towards non-violent means), I certainly would not deny the importance and legitimate contributions of MalcolmX and the original Black Panthers to the liberation of people of African heritage in the United States. I certainly would not deny my legitimate right to proportionate self-defense if such were absolutely necessary in order to defend my life.

Therefore, in my humble opinion, both T'Challa and Killmonger have legitimate points, legitimate philosophy, legitimate means, in core principle.

Eventually, Killmonger lost himself in his own resentment, however.  At a certain point, his anger consumed him so much so that his desire to defend himself legitimately moves towards the immoral and unjust use of violence and unjust means, not only as a soldier (he scars his skin for every person that he killed, celebrating death), but also as the interim leader of his own people (after coming to power in Wakanda, he seeks to destroy the very 'Heart-Shaped Herb' which has blessed his people, and to usurp power in permanence, denying the tradition of the just challenge).

In the end, it is T'Challa who, in honoring the legitimacy of Killmonger's struggle, steps to the fore as a truly great leader. Influenced by the legitimacy of Killmonger's core philosophy, while also recognizing Killmonger's tragic descent into immorality, T'Challa opens Wakanda to the world in the desire to save life, preserve life, embetter life (in the desire to save the life of the young boy that his own father did not save...). Thus, I agree with Chadwick Boseman completely when he says that, 'I don't know if we would accept T'Challa as our hero if he didn't go through Killmonger.'

Had he not met, sought to understand, and confronted the character of Killmonger, T'Challa would not have become the great King that he became to be..."

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Copyright © Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham,
22 Iyar 5778 / 7 May 2018 (morning)

(As republished from the original text published in a commentary made by Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham to the AFROPUNK article " Chadwick Boseman Agrees: 'T'Challa is the Enemy, Killmonger is Trying to Achieve Greatness' " during the week of 18 Adar 5778 / 5 March 2018.)

AFROPUNK (Official Website; article and video in English):
https://afropunk.com/2018/03/chadwick-boseman-agrees-tchalla-enemy-killmonger-trying-achieve-greatness

AFROPUNK (Official Website; article in English):
https://afropunk.com/2018/02/black-panther-conversation-featuring-chadwick-boseman-ta-nehisi-coates-lupita-nyongo