Wakanda is in the Imagining
It isn't what you see that's what you get, it's what you imagine
Issue #183 OpEd November 28, 2022
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Ever since I was a kid I’ve had an overactive imagination, and it’s been the best friend I’ve ever had.
Because the thing about imagination is that there are no limits and no boundaries. It’s why, as much as I enjoy writing socio-cultural and political commentary, I actually prefer writing fiction. Especially fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Because when I’m doing commentary I’m restricted to the realm of the literal, and quite frankly, that’s not always so much fun.
But when I write about what I imagine, the whole world opens up. Ideas and characters just show up in my head that I couldn’t even begin to tell you where they came from. I suppose they were summoned, but by my unconscious, and that’s what makes it so cool. When I tell a story I enjoy it as much as those who enjoy reading those stories because I never know where it’s going to go. I’m a passenger inside my own head, learning about myself on a thrill ride of my own creation.
So of course, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever because imagination is forever. Imagination is the proud parent of creation. Pretty much every scientific invention we now take for granted began in someone’s imagination, so why not imagine a different kind of society? Perhaps if we imagine better, we can be better, and once we’re better then we can afford to have better.
In my wife’s great post about Wakanda, ‘Why Black Representation Matters in the Movies’, she makes the necessary point that it’s important to see yourself in a positive way before you can become a positive force. Early depictions of African Americans in film and otherwise were hardly positive, but that was because we were at the mercy of certain white people having the power to define us to the rest of the world - and to themselves. Because their purposeful refusal to depict African Americans as who we truly are was a reflection of their guilt as well as their fear that if they were forced to accept that truth then it would diminish the (imaginary) power of their cherished whiteness.
But now, with movies such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Woman King, as well as a number of excellent TV series such as the re-imagining of The Man Who Fell to Earth, Watchmen, and even Lovecraft Country which I liked despite its unevenness, we are beginning to steer the narrative toward a more accurate portrayal of who we are and how we see ourselves and our experiences.
And just as important, in a more literal sense, we are able to see ourselves physically portrayed as the beautiful multi-colored, ridiculously diverse people that we are. We hear the voices we actually use, and we can finally be given the opportunity to appreciate the “blacker the berry” skin tones as well as the hairstyles and fashions that only we can rock. And when I focus on blacker the berry it’s not to ignore the other wide range of black skin tones, but to acknowledge the known fact that it has always been the darker among us who have been shunned the most - even by ourselves.
So let’s imagine better. Let’s continue to imagine ourselves lifting ourselves up and setting the record straight even when no one else will. Let’s imagine if there really is an all-Black nation called Wakanda that was never colonized and that is possibly the most powerful and technologically advanced nation on Earth.
And then, before some of us shake our heads about how ridiculous this is, let’s take a look at the true history of Africa. Of what was created there, and of what was discovered there. Then let’s take a look at the history of Africa’s descendants in America and all that we have accomplished and created in spite of America.
Now let’s begin to imagine the future.
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