I donât want to be divisive but I just need to say it: if youâre not black, I donât think you can truly understand what this feels like.
You can empathize, and god I thank all of you for doing so, but you donât feel it.
Not in the way every little black kidâs eyes lit up when they realized people who looked like them had a story to show about bordeline ethereal lands that showed them they came from somewhere beautiful, not just from a fucking boat.
Not in the way so many boys and even grown men felt pride swell in their chest at seeing themselves on screen as a powerful king, as a superhero.
Not in the way black girls and women everywhere felt encouraged to wear their hair out the way it grows from their scalp or shaved or threaded or any way they want toâ and boys too!
Not in the way every single product of the diaspora, not just in the United States, saw themselves as something better, bigger, than what weâve been reduced to over the course of history.
Black Panther came when we needed it the most, and Chadwick Boseman did so fucking much in the times before, during, and after the movie came out. He didnât get dismiss it as âanother superhero movieâ. He didnât âput upâ with kids wanting to meet their hero, or older people wanting to express their gratitude because âwhen I was younger, I never thought Iâd see someone that looks like me doing thatâ. He was key in us being able to feel good about ourselves across the board.
Chadick Boseman isnât a character, and it would be horrendous to reduce him to such, but we canât ignore the impact of his presence.
Iâve been crying since I woke up at 3AM to 24 texts telling me about the news in some way or another. I went to bed at 9PM last night, an hour before the news broke. I havenât slept since then, and I donât think Iâll be able to at any point today, because, yâall. I just canât stop feeling.
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