Appreciate that Kimoyo. I got the page from CBR's The Infinite War Report with Brevoort.
The "What do Wakandans think of US African Americans? " discussions continues over at CBR. Here in part is an update.
Whirlwind Dinamo had this to say
Well you need to put things in context, what I mean is politically, socially and cultural. I have friends who consider the term "African American" to be almost offensive, they seem themselves as American or Black Americans, they find the African thing a little disparaging, they are Americans not African first. You see everyone came from Africa, EVERYONE, Carthaginians, Egyptians, Moses which lead to the Christians, the Arabs, even the whiteman before they moved to regions in present day France, Armenian, Georgia, Britain, they were all African at one point in time...everyone has ancestry in Africa, EVERYONE. Through science today you can check people's family history DNA, most 'African-Americans' were thought to come only from a West African region where slaves were taken from what is now Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone but DNA tests are proving in ancestral bloods were mixed, "African-Americans" also have DNA markers showing roots as Europe, East Asia, West Africa, Native American (Indeigenours America)....so even as Slaves people were mixing with American Indian or Whites or people who had Chinese blood, this mixed root is almost in every black American's DNA, its almost impossible to find someone who is pure African unless they have just recently come to America from Congo or Nigeria or some place. I have a friend in NYC, he's not from Africa, he's from the United States of America but I'm sure there are people who for some reason want to label him, he has mixed Latino and African heritage, what should he be calling himself "Caribbean-American" maybe? Why not just American? what should Americans call French blacks who study in America? Why not just French?
In addition Whirlwind Dinamo added this.
let us not forget how Wakanda is historically wrote during the slaving years, they could have done something to prevent a horrible event in human history, instead they chose to live in an Island bubble away from international events, Wakanda could gloat smugly about how enlightened they all are, while people were dying and being slaved, Wakanda put on their oxygen masks, more or less lived in their cyrstal city on the Moon or Mars and protected their own. Vibranium and this idea of 'elite' and 'enlightened' has corrupted the Wakanda mind over time, maybe not as corrupt as Anthony Johnson but the corruption is there. Wakanda was playing a role here not directly but by closing their gates and blocking their ears.
Brandon McKinnis had this to say in reference to my post (reply #1091).
I think this is conflating two issues. They probably would appreciate the collective contributions of black Americans to the world, but I think they would take a seperate view of singular black Americans. I'm basing that opinion on the distrust shown for Monica Lynne, Kasper Cole, and Storm. I don't see them as having any great animosity towards black Americans in general, but the individual person is still going to be viewed as not Wakandan and therefore suspect.
My responses were as follows.
Whirlwind Dinamo, I have friends who also consider the term African American near insulting. They prefer the term Afrakan in America or just plain Afrakan. They view themselves as Afrakan first who have American citizenship by virtue of being born here.
While it is true that Afrakanity is responsible for the peopling of the Earth, those Afrakans that migrated out had to adapt to different environs and situations thus necessitating spiritual, genetic and cultural adaptations. These adaptations over thousands of years were effective enough to distinguish those who left from those who stayed.
The propaganda used to divide and supress Afrakans was not exclusive to only so called blacks. Germans and Jews, the Roma, so called Native Americans, Poles, Cambodians, many other Asians groups, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and other Hispanic and Latino groups have all been subject to some form of Willie Lynch.
I quote you. most 'African-Americans' were thought to come only from a West African region where slaves were taken from what is now Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone
This very statement is problematic and edemic of the fact as it illustrates a fundamental propaganda technique. Slaves were not taken from Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the Akan, the Ashanti, the Igbo, the Fulani, the Yoruba,the Temne, the Mende... Afrakans were taken form these places.
Why is race mixing so often seen as one sided. So some Afrakans have some mixed DNA. The same holds true for some American Indians, Whites, Chinese etc... They have Afrakan blood in them. I quote you again its almost impossible to find someone who is pure African
In that case shouldn't it be equally as impossible to find Europeans of pure blood?
Why not be who we are? American Afrakan, Canadian Afrakan, British Afrakan, Jamaican Afrakan, Nigerian Afrakan, Angolan Afrakan or just plain Afrakan.
http://youtu.be/Hxm1cU5Ewbw
Wakandans did in fact help their fellow Afrakans to resist. Wakandans were shown fighting the slave trade. Wakandans attacked slave ships. They freed captive Afrakans and even took some of them back to Wakanda. Instead of indicting Wakanda put the responsibilty were it belongs.The Portuguese, the British, the French, the Spanish, the Dutch, and the Americans.
Brandon McKinnis I think the conflating of the issue goes without saying as it applies almost universally. During the European Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, Wakandans freed captive Afrakans and even took some of them back to Wakanda.
Everett K. Ross (who actually became regent), Achebe (who became de facto leader). No outrage or uproar from the Wakandan populance on these two foreigners and there should have been. Captain America, Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos were treated well and they were invading the country. The Fantastic Four and their Future Foundation were very well received. The large contingent of non-Wakandan wedding guests didn't run into a problem. I don't even want to mention some Wakandans attitude towards Dr. Doom. In truth Brandon McKinnis, it all comes down to the perspective of the writer.
The end for now of my CBR update, however a question still lingers. Post his introduction, which series writer best captured the quintessential Black Panther? McGregor, Kirby, Priest, Hudlin, Mayberry, Liss, Hickman, other? I don't mean aspects, but the consummate, the terminal Black Panther. Maximizing the Panther to his logical conclusion.
Absolutely beautiful responses, my brother.
As for the writer capturing the best of TChalla? Let's not forget McDuffie, and I will say without hesitation that thus far the best Panther is a mix of Priest Hudlin and D-Mac, no doubt. As for who did the best single Panther? Even that is up to debate, because some may draw upon aspects of Panther in a single arc...like Aaron's deadly dazzlingly brilliant Panther in SEE WAKANDA AND DIE, or McDuffie's uberbrilliant Panther in his F4 arc.
Hickman's Panther is still under development, so we can't cast accurate judgement yet. Liss never got the chance that he deserved...as he was tearing it up, given the ridiculous constrictions he had to work with. Mayberry actually wrote a much overlooked SHURI, whose moves were dead on dope and truly steeped in actually legit martial arts skills. Mayberry's Panther is the first writing of Super Panther and has made a mild comeback under Hickman...but again? Never got a chance to get off the ground. There was Marvel Editorial hanging all over DOOMWAR and then Panther was cancelled.
Kirby and Macgregor's Panther were punks. And wholly unrelatable to Black people. And they were STRAIGHT. SUCKAS. Horrible from a heroic feats perspective, unless you give them the dreadful recognition of having their hero beaten up and humiliated more than any other writer ever.
So. It comes down to Priest vs Hudlin in this comparison. But I don't quite see a Priest vs Hudlin thing, because Hudlin built upon the house that Priest created and crafted. Bottom line? Priest made Panther and Falcon truly Black and truly cool. Priest...going away, not even close...wrote the best Falcon there ever was. Period. He elevated Panther to the status of insanely cool. He is the founder, the originator, and the first writer to truly write a series featuring a TChalla I liked.
Gillis and Cowyn killed it with their 4 arc miniseries, but there was glaring lapses in there that stuck in my craw. TChalla used a rock to defeat the tech armored Supremacist Azanian? While I liked it on the one hand cuz it was so MacGyver cool with fisticuffs thrown in for good measure, it just...made it look like TChalla fatally lacked genuine tech that he personally used for his own purposes, as well.
Hudlin made Panther AND WAKANDA virtually invincible and truly A-List. I mean, he made Panther BLACK Panther and fearlessly made divine hamburger out of many a sacred cow. I mean...it was Hudlin who unapologetically had TChaka beating Cap down then carrying him off like a sack of potatoes. On Issue One, no less. That's just so...ganxta. It felt SO RIGHT, too.
Priest did what he could given the severe restraints he worked under. He clearly showed TChalla as being the coolest, shrewdest and most ruthless King and hero in the MU.
Hudlin's Panther and Hudlin's Wakanda completely mollywhopped everyone and made the whole MU bow down. He actually upgraded TChalla to genuine A-List level because he had the Editorial backing to get TChalla written into most of the main Marvel Events and numerous other books and looked upon with very deep respect from all corners. Priest Panther was still segregated from the rest of the MU. That's Marvel politics. Who knows what Priest could have done with such company wide lattitude.
Out of everything? The biggest thing that just sticks in my craw about Priest's plans is that he was going to have TChalla marry Storm...and then have the marriage fail. After many position changes and whatnot, after seeing that basically TChalla is also a tragic-heroic-uber noble-ruthless loner in Priest's hands [ something that in and of itself is sooo dooope but also sad and compelling ]...I'm just going to have to go with the architect of THE WEDDING OF THE CENTURY.
Bottom line? We need that Black love boldly, unapologetically, positively shown and unbroken in comics. And People Of Color love, period. Where my Rican lovers at? Why couldn't Shang Chi finally love and marry Wu or whatever that deadly beautiful Chinese MI-6 or whatever agent's name is? You know, ole girl [ Wu, right? ] or whatshername who married the British dude instead of Shang?
And I'm going to say it again: Hudlin wrote THEE BEST LUKE CAGE. Period. End of story.
So. For personal royalty dopeness coolness superplan superflyness humor etc? Priest.
Everything else? Hudlin.
Who built on what Priest did.
So it's more fair to say that the definitive Panther pre-Hickman is...Priest-Hudlin BP. That's still my dude today. I'm not liking Hickman's penchant for NOT showing TChalla whoop up on dudes on panel.
Poll