I think this is false bind we put black characters (and black creators into). Why I say that is that we are supposed to only have two alternatives, a raceless "black" Black Panther that puts "character" first (stripped of racial context, as well as largely real history, and culture/influences) or a black Black Panther that is a neutered black male, a therapy session for anxious black writers (often male) to work out their racial and gender anxieties through.
I don't see it as having to be one or the other, or either. Black Panther's race can be used to make him stand out in fiction and in the real world. He can tap into a legacy that almost no other major black character can and I don't think it's something Marvel should run from or downplay. We often are given these raceless characters that are black on the outside but have little black interiority, that are basically no different than white characters. To me I see that as a dodge on the part of (often) white creators who can't, or won't, put themselves into their black characters' heads, and instead just go with the easy, warm platitude that "we are all the same" therefore there is little need to investigate the quirks and cleavages of history that do make us different, and therefore we get false diversity and not a real diversity of experience and opinion that could make for richer stories and characters overall.
I also don't see this as solely an issue of just black writers on Black Panther. Mind of Shadow mentions white writers who also input their thoughts, experiences, and issues onto Black Panther like black ones. If anything, many of the black writers successfully or not, do attempt to impart some kind of racial consciousness and not just make T'Challa raceless. Making T'Challa raceless undermines the powerful inspirational and aspirational appeal of the character as much as neutering him does.
The idea of Americans imparting or imposing their views on an African character, well, Black Panther was created by two white American men and owned by a white American corporation.
Just about every other African character we know of, definitely in mainstream comics, share that same origin. T'Challa is as native African as Luke Cage, Falcon, John Stewart, etc., etc., came from the soil of the black American imagination. Basically, he isn't really African, as conceived by Africans. Black Panther isn't about the real Africa or an African nation or monarch, so much as a (white) American examination of those subjects. So, I can't fault them for imparting some of their views on the character. My hope is that many do enough research, as well as reflection, and approach Black Panther, as well as all black characters, with respect and care.
Further, Marvel has or is moving to put continental African, or other Diasporic black writers, in the Black Panther orbit, like Nnedi Okorafor, Roxane Gay, Evan Narcisse, and now Tochi Onyebuchi, and thus far, I've only heard this forum give Narcisse the most praise.
Let me add...I went back and reread what Ezyo said, and I hadn't noted before that Ezyo was talking about the current black writers, and not necessarily about black writers for Black Panther in general. I am more accepting that there is an issue with the current crop of Black Panther writers' takes on T'Challa, but I blame Marvel for that more than them. Marvel is hiring those writers. And while it appears some here have given up on Ridley, I'm not ready to give up on him yet. I do think he's a good writer and I'm hoping he'll come through. Though I do think his I Am Batman series is holding together better at this point, which perhaps does reinforce what Ezyo and others feel because Ridley perhaps is more a natural at writing a conflicted Black American character than a conflicted African one.
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