W.E B. Du Bois and Modern Day Marvel
ATTENTION THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS REGARDING BLACK PANTHER!
With that being said, while reading “The Souls of Black Folk”, I couldn’t help but compare it to conflict that appears in Marvel’s new film. It genuinely feels that Ryan Coogler, “Black Panther”‘s director, could see history repeating itself in the black community when he saw the storyline of this comic character and chose to make it the focal point of the movie for the same reason that Du Bois wrote out his points.
Brooker T. Washington argued that black people simply had to keep their head down and deal with white oppression for the time being while improving on themselves and believed that this notion would win the respect of their oppressors and allow them into a more accepted role in society. Du Bois’ negation of this claim is so strong that he goes as far as calling those who follow Washington’s ideals a “cult.” Du Bois’ knew that there was no gaining respect from the whites during early 20th century America and that to obtain the social mobility and success that blacks deserved, their race would have to find the means to do so themselves.
Now comes the spoilers.
In Marvel’s “Black Panther”, audiences are found with a modern day version of this conflict. The nation of Wakanda, although incredibly wealthy in their vibranium resources and next-age technology, has lived in isolation from all other African nations and tribes and held to obligation to help out their surroundings nations when colonizers entered and disrupted the stability of the land. One character, Killmonger, pushes the nation out of it’s confined way of living and threatens to use all of their advanced weaponry to arm all oppressed black people so that they may rule the world. T’Challa, the hero of the movie and king of Wakanda, opposes Killmonger with the knowledge that although Wakanda has let their neighboring nations down by only protecting themselves, Wakanda still must find a way to bring protect itself before placing itself in harms way for the sake of other countries with the same background. Unlike the disputes between Killmonger and T’Challa, Washington and Du Bois formed separate parties within their communities and were both concrete in the doctrines that they proposed. Killmonger and T’Challa were both more fluid with their viewpoints and the end result of that was a resolution that combined both ideals.
I think that Ryan Coogler knew what he was dong in putting this kind of conflict within such a staple movie in this day and age, the same way that I feel that both Du Bois and Washington knew what and who they were speaking to in their time when their points were made.
One response so far
I love the comparison drawn between Dubois idea of African Americans taking matters into their own hand to the philosophies that Killmonger had in the latest movie rendition of the comic book “Black Panther”. As you stated, both Dubois and Killmonger did not believe that the oppressed could ever earn the respect of the oppressors and should do for themselves and seek to do better and perhaps debunk the oppressors. While Killmonger, in black panther, was a lot more radical and thought that most of the change would come from violence, the notion that one should take care of self and build with other men and woman who look like you (particularly black people), is prevalent in both Dubois and Killmongers views.