Chadwick Forever

Last week, a king died.

Words fail to express the impact that this man had on the world, especially for Black people around the globe. The news of his passing was as devastating as it was surprising. I have cried more than one time since hearing it, as we mourn the loss of such an important cultural icon.

Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa in Black Panther. Matt Kennedy/© Marvel Studios 2018

Chadwick Boseman passed away in his home in the Los Angeles area surrounded by his wife and family. He was 43. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago but had never spoken publicly about his diagnosis. Instead, he poured himself into his work, continuing to deliver stellar performances and inspire fans up until his death.

Born and raised in South Carolina, Boseman attended Howard University, one of the country’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), in Washington, DC. He graduated in 2000 with a bachelor of fine arts in directing and was able to attend the Oxford Midsummer Program of the British American Drama Academy in London thanks to his professor and mentor, fellow Howard alum Phylicia Rashad, who helped raise funds for him to attend—most notably from her close friend and fellow actor Denzel Washington. Boseman would get the chance to thank him when Washington received an AFI Life Achievement Award, retelling the story of his generosity and saying, “There is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington.” Back in the United States, he graduated from New York City’s Digital Film Academy and started his career in Brooklyn as a drama teacher at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem before moving to Los Angeles in 2008.

He would go on to play pivotal roles representing iconic figures in Black history and culture, beginning in 2013 with his first major role as Jackie Robinson, the first Black player in Major League Baseball, in 42. He followed this with his portrayal of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, in Get On Up and Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice, in Marshall. His last film, an adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, will be released on Netflix later this year. But he is best known for his role as King T’Challa, the Black Panther, the first Black superhero in mainstream American comics.

Film Frame/© Marvel Studios 2018

“A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said in their statement about his death. “From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more—all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther.”

His portrayal of T’Challa, first in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and then in 2018’s blockbuster Black Panther, shattered box office records, changed the landscape in film, and changed the world. Black Panther brought to life the vision of a world that could have been but never was and illuminated the impact of colonialism on Africa and the course life took for African Americans brought here through the transatlantic slave trade. But it also gave us a champion and restored a part of our soul. As Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., put it in a clip included in Marvel’s tribute video, “It ceased to become just about how well he inhabited the role and all that stuff—it’s become part of our culture just as a symbol.”

pic.twitter.com/aZ2JzDf5ai

— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020

Boseman touched so many lives and inspired so many, young and old. From his fellow actors, you hear the words grace, humility, and nobility; from his fans, you hear icon, legend, and hero. There has been an outpouring of love and remembrance, from his Marvel costars honoring him to the 20/20 special feature “Chadwick Boseman’s Extraordinary, Impactful Life” and young people holding memorials for their favorite superhero. There is even a petition for Boseman’s hometown of Anderson, South Carolina, to replace a Confederate monument with a memorial to the legendary figure. He made an indelible imprint on the world around him and ingrained Wakanda firmly in our lives. (As I write this, I am sitting in my Black Panther leather office chair and wearing my “Wakanda Forever” T-shirt and Black Panther shoes.)

If you thought that Chadwick Boseman was just an actor playing some entertaining roles, then you clearly missed what he truly was and represented. He did not merely act. He portrayed icons. He breathed life into them, made them real, tangible. He made it so that you could lose yourself in the story of the character and feel what they felt, understand who they were and why they were. He transcended the screen to bring the inspiration of James, Jackie, Thurgood, and T’Challa into our world—these critical figures in our history and culture whom we draw strength from, whom we believe in. He embodied our soul. This was his meaning to our community, to the world. This is his legacy. And in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. He was our hero.

MY BABY BOY AND THE AVENGERS HOLDING A MEMORIAL FOR BLACK PANTHER❤💪🏾#Wakanda4Ever pic.twitter.com/nYAnER23Ig

— King Westbrook (@KingWestbrook7) August 29, 2020

Even now, through tears, it is hard to put into words, fully, what he meant to me and what he meant to the Black community and to the world. He personified endurance, persistence, and dedication. The man was already dying while filming one of the greatest movies of all time, embodying the nobility of self-sacrifice and heroism to deliver this iconic performance. And I’m left to wonder whether he gave it his all because he knew he was dying and wanted to give us this inspiration, this pride before he passed, because he knew that our world needed the Black Panther. Did he stave off death just so that he could be what we needed? He endured surgeries and treatments, never publicly batting an eye or breathing word of his illness so there would be no qualifier around his performance. He never froze during any of this.

Chadwick Boseman changed the world. He will forever be remembered not just for his portrayals but for the legacy he left behind: a legacy of hope, a legacy of pride, a legacy of Wakanda.

“In my culture, death is not the end. It’s more of a stepping off point. You reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into a green veld where you can run forever.”
—Chadwick Boseman as Prince T’Challa on the tragic death of his father, King T’Chaka

On Saturday, I lowered the Wakandan flag that flies over my house to half-mast to honor him. I like to think that he has strode off to Djalia, the Wakandan ancestral plane, to join our ancestors, watching over us for when we need guidance and counsel, gone but never forgotten.

He will forever be our king.

He will forever be our hero.

Wakanda Forever! Chadwick Forever!

The flag of Wakanda lowered to half-mast in front of my home.