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Black Panther is a film that centers on two clashing ideologiesmaybe even two ways of achieving the same end goals. One of those perspectives is represented by Erik Killmonger Stevens, and a lot of digital ink has been spent on how his radical politics clashes with TChallas desire for the isolation and defense of his homeland of Wakanda. Killmongers ideological opposite, however, is not the titular character himself, but Nakia: the spy, the War Dog, the revolutionary.

It is important to get this part out of the way: #NakiaWasRight.

Nakia is almost always right.

The women in Black Panther are given room to be a multitude of things. They get to be confident and hard-working, they get to be committed to their duties without sacrificing healthy relationships, they get to possess real agency in their personal lives, and above all, they get to be consistently right. When Shuri jokes that her older brothers old tech is outmoded and dangerous in the field, she is right. When the Elder of the Merchant Tribe notes that Wakanda does not need a warrior, but a king, she is right. When Queen-Mother Ramonda begs her son not to accept a challenge from a stranger who admits to wanting little more than to kill him out of misplaced vengeance, she is right. Even when Okoye tells TChalla not to freeze, she says it because she knows things that even the man who would be king refuses to know about himself.

So lets just confirm this up front. Lets repeat it if people dont know by now: Nakia was right.

Nakia was so right that if people just took her advice in Act One, half the battle of the movie would be working through the process of solution-building before we even see Ulysses Klaues new prosthetic hand.

Black Panther is really intensely focused on confronting the theme of nationalism versus globalism in really sharp, considerate ways. Even when people come to the debate armed with dubious assumptions and stereotypes (like WKabis legit unhealthy, bordering on the alt-right insistence that when you let the refugees in, they bring their problems with them, and we become like everywhere else), they do so from very clear, well-established personal desires and worries. They come to it as people, flawed, impatient, and often with very little experience in the ways and woes of nation-building.

This is the kind of emotionally-driven, character-based logic that makes Killmonger such an interesting villain, but lets be sureit does not make him right. It does not mean that his arguments are valid, or that he makes a good point. And in a discourse that is currently flooded with false dichotomies and ignorant assertions of Wakanda as an alt-right paradise cut from the same cloth as a neo-Nazi ethnostate, its vitally important to note what Killmonger has actually become in the film. When TChalla tells him that hes become that which he despises, he means ithe means that Killmonger talks with the braggadocio and malformed lack of strategy of certain current world leaders, and fights with the cruelty and desire for instability reminiscent of a certain countrys foreign policy.

Not once does Killmonger even pose the question of how arms will get into or remain in the hands of the disenfranchised, or what a black market for vibranium will do to his revolution. Not once does he second-guess the moral value of selling the tools he needs for his revolution to a white arms dealer without any supervision. He hasnt beaten Western capitalist imperialism at its own game, because that game was a cruel and witless one from its outset. In more ways than one, Killmonger never learns that the masters tools will never dismantle the masters housewhether the physical structures that continue to marginalize the black diaspora, or the structure of his own imagination which crafts his ideology from a Western military framework.

Contrast this with Nakias experience. Nakia been out here, doing this work. Shes been doing it all alone, with no backup, even insisting on not being disturbed as she trots about the globe, righting capitalist neo-imperialist wrongs through her own wits. Nakia sees the value of providing a more lasting sense of peace for the disenfranchised, and knows that the late stage of that goal requires the commitment of Wakandanot to wage war on other countries, but to seek out the downtrodden and lift them up and out of struggle. In her first scene in the film, she even has the empathy to see a child soldier as a boy first and an aggressor second, preferring to send him back home than to fight him.

In that sense, TChalla is not actually Killmongers immediate foil. He learns to be, but the role is not truly ascribed to him from the start. Its ascribed to Nakia. In a film that can be broken down ideologically into a row of voices all vying for the ear of a new king, competing for the chance to make the ultimate decision about how Wakanda is seen (or why it will remain unseen) by the world, Nakia and Killmonger want the same thing, in different ways, for different reasons, and Nakia is wiser on both fronts. If, as so many recent thinkpieces have asserted, Killmonger is cast in the image of Malcolm X, then Nakia is really the Martin Luther King Jr. of the film.

This is not to say that Killmonger is meant to speak specifically to a kind of national politics, even though he does serve as quite an eloquent metaphor for such. Christopher Lebron in the Boston Review, however, makes a case for what he sees as the mistaken perception that Black Panther is a movie about black liberation, arguing that the film renders Killmonger an impotent villain, an uninformed radical, and a gormless denial of the presumably Panafrican ideals of the films imagery and themes, all for the sake of tearing down black American men. Black Panther is not the movie we deserve, Lebron counters. Why should I accept the idea of black American disposability from a man in a suit, whose name is synonymous with radical uplift but whose actions question the very notion that black lives matter? For my money, I disagree with this interpretation with every atom of my being, but Im also willing to admit my one blindspot is that Im not African American, even if I am also from the diaspora.

I can find a serious rebuttal to Lebrons premise, however: Killmonger is not truly motivated by radical politics. He may have a radical end goal, but that goal is driven, and corrupted, by a lossthe kind of loss that might make anyone in his position act similarly, Id say. He lost his father, and in so doing lost all access to a place his father called home. He struggles with the rest of his brothers almost especially because hes been left out of an escape route to somewhere perfect. Just because he isnt right doesnt mean that he isnt compelling, because the characters rage is what draws us to him. I am in far greater agreement with Ameer Hasan Loggins, who asks in his Blavity piece for us to imagine Killmonger not as villain, but as a super-victim of systemically oppressive forces, forces that forced him into a hyper-awareness of his dueled unwanted status in Wakanda and in America, due to having the blood of his mother, who was a descendant of black folks forced into the United States via the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. This two-pronged othering serves as the source of his super-power un-tempered black rage. His rage is, in rare glimpses, aimed at the right sourcethat is, at Western neo-imperialismand as both Loggins and Lebron can attest, we relate to him because it is diasporic rage. But we can admit that Killmonger speaks to us on that level without conceding for even a moment that he is right, or wishing that he were.

It should mean more for arguments like Lebrons that Nakia, a Wakandan who has grown up in the isolationist policies of her nation for her entire life, insists that she wants to reach out to the disenfranchised diaspora. Isnt that what we are really thinking of when we wish to work together? To know that the continent is thinking of us, to know that we can share resources and knowledge to rise up together? To be reassured that the motherland is the source of our salvation, instead of insisting its the other way around? Nakia wants what Killmonger does, what NJobu did, but doesnt it matter that she has emerged from the on-the-ground resistance that Killmonger wants to engage inthe same resistance he proudly admits to discarding entirely just to kill one man he has never met? Doesnt it matter that he murders his own lover without hesitation just to have a fleeting chance at that vengeance, making all of his further talk of the safety and progress of black people everywhere utterly hypocritical? Doesnt it matter that a Wakandan spy just as well-versed in combat and infiltration as Killmonger comes to King TChalla to pressure him into actionnot asking to arm those who suffer, but to feed and shelter them?

Which is more radical? To give the suffering a weapon, or to give them a home?

Mind you, its more than understandable, on an emotional level, that Killmonger would hate TChalla on those grounds alonethat he is owed a home, and was robbed of that connection and that birthright by TChallas father. But that is rage. Rage is not the same thing as revolution. That many examples of the latter are built upon the coals of the former, collected in the wounded hearts of decades of people of colour worldwide, does not make the two the same. Sometimes your rage is not radical. Sometimes your rage is misdirected and costly. Sometimes your rage asks you to expend a lot of energy doing nothing but be destructive and regressive. Sometimes you think youre woke, but youre just lucid dreaming.

The closing note of Black Panthers first post-credits scenethat it is wiser to build bridges than barriersis the film not simply casting aside Killmongers entire campaign of violence, but embracing precisely the end result Killmonger claimed to seek. It happens only in part because of Killmongers influence, however. Nakia is its real engine, the true architect of its strategybecause Nakia is the only one with a strategy at all.

One should not dismiss the value of righteous, justly directed, undiluted rage. But rage, like any other emotional motivator, is only as good, as critical, or as morally upright as what it drives the body to do. Empathy, as Nakia teaches us, is just as valuable, if not more. Wanting to share the wealth of your home with those who suffer is a high point of empathy. And if TChalla considered that before blood ever shed, perhaps Wakanda would have been in a better place much sooner.

So let that be a lesson: rage is not revolution. Rage is not a replacement for revolution. And whenever possible, when a black woman says you should think about doing something, dont dismiss it right away. She is most likely right.

Originally published in February 2018.

Brandon OBrien is a performance poet and writer from Trinidad. His work is published or upcoming in Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation, Arsenika, and New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean, among others. He is also the poetry editor of FIYAH Magazine. You can find his blog at therisingtithes.tumblr.com or on Twitter @therisingtithes.

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Nakia Was Right: Black Panther and the Difference Between Rage and Revolution - tor.com

By Katia ParksAFRO Intern

Black pride has recently returned to the forefront of our culture through Black Lives Matter and the natural hair movement but it does not stop there. Marjorie Nicoles afrocentric creations are paraded on the streets of Baltimore as her unique handmade garments provide individuality and confidence to both women and men.

In the 90s, as a young adult, Nicole embraced her roots in African culture and wanted to implement it in her life. At Maarifa, the African school her children attended at the time, Nicole learned more of the culture as a young mother. She loved the community element of the school and was allured by the African garb the mamas and babas wore.

Although she was preoccupied with being a full-time teacher and mother, she made it a point to instill African values in her household. As a math teacher at St. Frances Academy, Nicole was used to viewing the world in numbers and shapes. I wanted to dress afrocentric, but being a bigger girl with broad shoulders, nothing really fit, Nicole admitted to the AFRO. When Nicole looked in the mirror, she saw a collection of shapes. She wanted to wear styles that werent marketed to curvier women in mainstream African boutiques, and thats when she decided to make her own clothes. I wondered how hard it would be to make myself clothes and that started a journey I was not prepared for.

In 2014, Nicole established NSAA (en-sa) African Creations, and as with any career change, there are adjustments. The decision of starting her own company included leaving her job at St. Frances, so that she could focus all her attention on building her brand. That is why Nicole stressed that it is important for her to be self-sufficient and organized. My motto is: if you are gonna do it, do it with excellence, Nicole said before going on to say that NSAA is a symbol of excellence, genuineness and authenticity.

Feeling lost and intimidated by how much she did not know about her African roots, Nicole educated herself and then aimed to share what she learned through her clothing. I wanted a place where young people and even older people could come so I can teach them in a caring way. I had already taught for 11 years, so I got the concept. Her brand encourages people to learn about African culture through clothing designs and fashion shows.

One fashion show in particular was dedicated to Warrior Women. Warrior Women is actually the larger part of what I do. I had a voice that was with me my whole entire life and I realized it was my warrior, Nicole said. With the weight of the world on her shoulders being a survivor of molestation, rape, domestic abuse and a car accident, Nicole finally found her strength. I want to introduce other women to their warrior, she added.

Truthfully, a lot of people are torn between keeping a job that pays the bills or creating a career out of their passion. Nicole advises that people who want to start their own business should have a plan, put it in writing and be sure to leave their current job on good terms. Dont be rigid, and make sure you are living within the means of your business, she added. For more information, visit her website at http://www.nsaacreations.com.

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The 'Warrior' Behind NSAA African Creations - Afro American

Before Billie Eilish performed the Beatles' "Yesterday," during the Academy Awards "In Memoriam" segment last month, she walked the red carpet in a look that's become something of a signature for her: custom oversized Chanel tracksuit, a chunky, gold Cuban link chain, long black acrylics. Eilish's style defies recent conceptions of what a pop star should look like, and has helped raise her profile. While singers of the Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson era wore tank tops and cut-offs, in a 2019 Calvin Klein ad Eilish revealed she's opted for baggy clothes to focus media attention towards her musical output and away from her body.

Along with her fashion choices, everything else about Eilish's impressive run over the past three years feels like we've arrived somewhere new in pop culture. The 18-year-old's moody music has taken over the world, earning her a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and a sweep at the Grammys. But more truthfully, her success and image didn't come from nowhere. She's been cooking for a while. Eilish began singing and making music with her older brother, Finneas O'Connell, when she was a child. And the buzz around her impressive voice and songwriting potential started years ago, when she released the "Ocean Eyes" at 13 and it caught fire online.

Her fashion touchstones aren't totally novel either. As Eilish's star has risen, many have been quick to point out how much of her image is borrowed from Black pop stars, leading to an ongoing debate over whether she deserves the label of cultural appropriator. The question is a valid one. You'd be disingenuous to not recognize the fact that Eilish and her stylists looks to late '90s and early aughts hip hop as a style touchstone though her tracksuits and cuban links feel less heinous than Kim Kardashian's cornrows or Iggy Azalea's "blaccent." While these criticisms have merit, the Eilish dilemma speaks to something much larger than a single chart-dominating popstar.

When Eilish was born in December 2001, the No. 1 song in the country was Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair." Outkast, Destiny's Child and Alicia Keys were dominating the charts that year. Jay-Z had just released his landmark album The Blueprint. No argument could be made that hip hop and R&B existed in the margins; no longer the soundtrack of the counterculture, it had gone thoroughly mainstream. The cultural landscape that Eilish and those born after 2000 and came of age in was one where Drake and Nicki Minaj were the hitmakers. And crucially, for the first time in history, the way fans discovered, engaged with and discussed pop culture was entirely online.

What does this mean for Gen-Z, the generation Eilish epitomizes? A study published in the Journal of Broadcasting & Digital Media published in 2010, the year I was a sophomore in high school, found that the TV watching habits of Black teens and white teens were clearly divided along racial lines. I can speak to this divide personally. Back then, I could recognize that the cultural touchpoints that my white and non-Black POC friends have were very different from my own as a Black person. But for Gen Zers like Eilish, the lines are a lot blurrier. And that's largely because of the internet.

According to Nielsen Music U.S. year-end report, 2017 was the year R&B/Hip Hop became the country's most popular genre, largely driven by music streaming. Any time spent on Tik Tok, the video-based social network popular among teens, confirms that hip hop remains king, and continues to drive cultural conversations among teens. Several tracks, like Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" and Rico Nasty's "Smack a Bitch" even owe bumps in streaming to the app.

Appropriation of Black cultural practices is the story of American pop culture, particularly in music. From jazz and blues to Elvis' swaying hips, Black culture has always been more marketable with a white face. And it continues. Just last year, Ariana Grande faced backlash for her single "7 Rings" and claims of her performance being disingenuous. The internet has escalated this dynamic in ways that we've yet to fully come to terms with because if the internet does anything well, it's taking complex data and presenting it totally out of context.

This issue came to a head after comments Eilish made in an interview with Vogue, which highlighted just what makes her image and success so frustrating to some. She noted that several artists that she admires, like Lana Del Rey and Tyler, the Creator, excel at making honest music that's nonetheless filtered through alter egos or personas. She made a distinction between this kind of character driven writing, and that of other, less "authentic" artists. "There's a difference between lying in a song and writing a story," she said. "There are tons of songs where people are just lying. There's a lot of that in rap right now, from people that I know who rap. It's like, 'I got my AK-47, and I'm fuckin' . . .' and I'm like, what? You don't have a gun. 'And all my bitches. . . .' I'm like, which bitches? That's posturing, and that's not what I'm doing."

What was likely an off-hand comment from Eilish struck a nerve, not because the sentiment was novel, but precisely the opposite. The artistry of hip hop and the people who make it has always been under question, particularly from white people, despite being a source of obvious inspiration for many white pop artists in particular. Eilish was echoing comments from another pop star, Miley Cyrus, who more freely borrowed from Black culture in her 2013 album Bangerz and her polarizing VMA performance that same year, later moving away from hip hop by painting the genre as not "positive" enough.

What's most frustrating about these comments from Eilish and Cyrus is not just that they demonstrate an ignorance of the factors that contribute to hip hop being able to resonate with so many racism, social disenfranchisement but rather the fact that these artists can find inspiration in hip hop and other forms of Black cultural expression, borrow from it, and experience a level of success that young Black artists rarely ever reach. What it also illustrates is that a perceived closeness to Black culture doesn't translate to a greater understanding or desire to understand the lived experience of Black people. Unfortunately for Eilish who has consistently cited artists like Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt as her influences her role as a pop star has made her a lightning rod, and put her at the center of the debate over who has a right to critique Black culture.

The internet has provided, for white youth who've spent a large part of their adolescence on it, a front seat to the creation and distribution of Black cultural products Black music, slang and dances. But as those cultural products move across the internet, they get farther and farther away from their original context and meaning and often become collapsed under the simplistic label of "youth culture." This isn't as democratizing as it seems. Apps like TikTok and its spiritual predecessor Vine not only encourage the performance of Black culture by non-Black teens, but incentivize it with real money to be made. It used to just be financially viable for pop stars to perform Blackness. Now, it presents an opportunity to non-Black teens everywhere.

TikTok's dance challenges, like the Renegade challenge, go viral on the app without a whisper of where they came from, which more often than not is a Black creator. The Renegade dance is a rare instance where its creator, Jaliah Harmon, eventually did get credit, after it already took over the world. But this reaches much farther than content posted online. Words, clothes, beauty trends have found their ways from Black mouths and bodies to white ones, at a pace faster than ever thanks to the internet.

Gen Zers and the generations that will follow spend their most formative years online. In the chaos of forming an identity, trying on different masks is an almost inevitable part of the journey. Trends like acrylic nails and Nike Air Force 1s, or words like "fleek" and "deadass," to them, feel native. And they likely don't have the awareness that they're borrowing something or the language to express it.

Parents of young people now may look back on their high school years and regret the big hair or shoulder pads or flannels or whatever fashion mistakes they made in their youth. For their kids though, it'll likely be the problematic TikTok trend they participated in or, even worse, something like "blackfishing."

But for Black people, this connectedness has led to opportunity. Whole genres of music like soundcloud rap have been born entirely out of the internet. Social movements like Black Lives Matter were able to flourish due to the ability to connect online so easily. Vine and Instagram and Dubsmash have presented opportunities for exposure for Black creatives of all kinds. But they don't exist in a vacuum. White teens are just as connected as ever as well. Which also means they have access to information that even their parents didn't. Thanks to blogging and social media, Gen Z is surely the most diverse and socially conscious generation in history. They may be part of the problem, but they are also the best equipped to become informed enough to untangle these uneven power structures.

As for Eilish, or any young internet-savvy creator who has grown up on the internet where people of color set the trends, it's clear that Black artists have served as huge influences to her creatively. Hopefully she finds the language to speak to all the ways she's been influenced by them.

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When White Kids Grow Up on the Black Internet - Papermag

Speaking from Madrid, President Obama said the Black Lives Matter movement shouldn't be judged by the actions of a few non-peaceful protestors.

Black Lives Matter rally in Oklahoma City, Sunday, July 10, 2016.(Photo: Sue Ogrocki, AP)

After a week of conflict in the United States that included the police-involved shooting deaths ofAlton Sterling andPhilando Castile,and the subsequent sniper attack thatleftfive Dallas police officers dead,the Black Lives Matter movement once again hasbeen at the center of controversy.

But lost in the discussion is a sense of what Black Lives Matter isand what it stands for.

What is Black Lives Matter?

Black Lives Matter was founded by PatrisseCullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi as botha hashtagand a political projectaftertheacquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin. Distraught at the verdict, Oakland, Calif., community activist Garza wrote an impassioned Facebook plea ending with the words "black lives matter." Cullors, a community organizer from Los Angeles, shared the Facebook post and put a hashtag in front of those three words. The ideals expressed the economic, political and socialempowerment ofAfrican-Americans resonated nationwide.

Since 2013, Black Lives Matter has movedfromsocial media platforms to the streets, morphing into an organization andamovement that gainednationalrecognitionduring demonstrations after the 2014 police-involved killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

How does Black Lives Matter work?

What setsBlack Lives Matter apart from other social justice groups, however,is its decentralized approach and reliance almost solely on local, rather than national, leadership. Cullors said organizing is often spontaneous and not directed byone person or group of people.

We dont get (people) onto the streets, they get themselves onto the street, she said.

Black Lives Matteris made up of a network of local chapters who operate mostly independently. Chelsea Fuller of the Advancement Project, a nonprofit that works with grassroots justice and race movements, said that local organizing is a powerful way to address poverty, access to housing and jobs, community policingand other issues that intersect with systemic racism.

We cant affect national narrative, we cant affect national legislation that comes down and affects local people if local people dont push back and take a stand about what's happening in local communities, Fuller said.

Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors shares her thoughts about race in America.

What does Black Lives Matter stand for?

Themost important directive of Black Lives Matter,Cullors said,is to deal with anti-black racism,to push for black peoples right to live with dignity and respect and be included in theAmerican democracy that they helped create.

This is about the quality of life for black people, for poor people in this country, said Umi Selah, co-director of Dream Defenders in Miami. Though not officially affiliated, Dream Defenders and similar social justice groups often align themselves with Black Lives Matter.

The conception that all were mad about is police and policing is a strong misconception, Selah said.In fact, Black Lives Matter released a statement last weekcondemning the shooting in Dallas as counter to whatthe movement is trying to accomplish.

Ralikh Hayes of Baltimore BLOC echoed Selah, saying that Black Lives Matter is not inherently anti-police or anti-white, nor does the phrase Black Lives Matter means other lives aren't important.

We are against a system that views people as tools, Hayes said.

Cullors also hears claims that Black Lives Matterlacks direction or strategy. But Cullors said the strategyis clear -- working to ensure that black people live with the full dignity of theirhuman rights.

We are not leaderless, were leader-full, she said. "We're trying to change the world...developing a new vision for what this generation of black leaders can look like."

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Black Lives Matter: A primer on what it is and what it stands for

The stagnant numbers raise interesting questions: Does Sanderss revolution simply need more time? Did voters not know enough about what his policies could do for them? Or, more plainly, did they simply prefer Biden? If the Sanders movementNot me. Usis going to win, either now or in the future, it needs to figure out a way to sway southern black voters to its cause.

Some black people in the South are already on board for radical change, though, and they are trying to bring others with them.

Read: A warning to the Democratic Party about black voters.

Lumumba, whose beard is just beginning to show flecks of gray at its ends, is a rising star of progressive politics. And hes seen the limitations of politics as practiced.

No matter whos been president, no matter whether weve been told that the economy is thriving or were in a recession, weve still been at the bottom, Lumumba told me during his layover in Atlanta on Friday. He was headed to Detroit to join Sanders for a rally before the Michigan primary. People may participate in the pageantry because they dont believe that its really going to affect their lives in a grand way.

Voting becomes pageantry when those who do so arent able to actively engage with the candidates, their staffs, and, most important, their ideas, he said. A contender shouldnt become the candidate through an exercise less participatory than procedural, he argued. He hoped that the people of his citywhich is more than 80 percent blackwould be able to experience the political process more deeply this time around.

In mid-February, Arekia Bennett, an organizer with Mississippi Votes and the Movement for Black Lives, staged a peoples caucus, which involved more than 100 residents of Jackson. The event gave voters a chance to hear directly from staff members representing several candidates, including Biden, Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Michael Bloomberg. Sanders won the caucuss mock vote overwhelmingly, and Lumumba based his endorsement on that result.

It was an intimate experience, the kind of thing Lumumba had imagined when he and three other southern black mayors wrote an open letter to candidates last September. The letter outlined the roadmap for 2020 Democrats to win not only their support, but the support of their communities. We didnt want it to be a perfunctory experience, he told me. It needed to be substantive.

But a little over 100 people is hardly representative of all of Jackson, a city of roughly 170,000. My fear in Jackson, just like my fear around the nation, is that not enough people get a chance to experience that, Lumumba confessed. That was a small sample size of the city in an atypical situation not only for Jackson to get to experience, but that most other southern states dont get to experience.

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Bernie Sanders Reached Out to Black Voters. Why Didnt It Work? - The Atlantic