Pop Culture: Black Panther:Killmonger was right

To pretend a few innocents do not have to die to secure the freedom of the many is to ignore the reality of the human world.

On February 16, Marvel Studios’ ‘Black Panther’ opened in cinemas worldwide and has since become a global phenomenon.

The story of Wakanda through the lens of the prince now King T’Challa and his cousin Erik has shattered box office records, taken over discussion threads and spurred many think pieces all over the internet on this beautiful work of art. One of the leading conversations is the character arc of Erik Killmonger, played by a brilliant Michael B. Jordan who brought a certain panache to the role and elevated the quality of villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Warning: Possible spoilers ahead.

WHO IS KILLMONGER?

Erik Stevens aka Killmonger is the son of N’Jobu, the younger brother to the King of Wakanda T’Chaka. N’Jobu was sent on a mission to Oakland, California as a War Dog spy, an intelligence reconnaissance division of vibranium-rich African country, Wakanda. During his time there, he falls in love with an American girl who gives birth to Erik. Unsheltered by the advantage of living in an isolationist utopian country and the resulting effect of investing emotionally in the American life, he becomes disillusioned by the suffering and oppression of minorities in America and the rest of the world and knowing what the resources of his home country was capable of, he sought to use the power of vibranium to arm the oppressed and set them free.

Read Also: Lagos Premiere of Black Panther.

Knowing his brother, T’Chaka would not break the centuries old isolationist tradition of Wakanda to help, he teams up with arms dealer and thief, Ulysses Klaue to steal some vibranium from Wakanda. His brother finds out and, considering it an act of betrayal, kills him. Erik, who doesn’t exactly witness his father’s heart being perforated with vibranium claws grows up with his father’s beliefs regardless. He lives through the oppression, but with the added hatred and pain that his father was killed by his home country for trying to solve a problem the country is equipped to fix.

 

KILLMONGER’

The debate about Killmonger’s arc in Black Panther circles around his motivations and his chosen method of execution. Killmonger, like his father, angered by the oppression faced by the black community and minorities as a whole, sets a plan in motion to take over the country with the resources capable of ending that oppression and establishing a new world order. He gains the necessary skills (he kills a lot of people) on how to topple a government and, by extension, world order on his way to challenging for the throne of Wakanda.

When he finally reaches the border of Wakanda, he offers Wakanda what they’ve wanted the most for the past 30 years, the dead body of Ulysses Klaue. He challenges the present occupant of the throne, T’Challa to the throne and in a swift and almost laughable fashion, he dispatches the son of T’Chaka and he’s crowned King. Not the kind of man to fool around, he quickly summons the war council and prepares to distribute highly advanced Wakanda weapons to the oppressed all over the world to fight for themselves. The war has been going on for decades, the oppressed were finally going to be more than helpless sheep led to slaughter.

KILLMONGER UNDERSTOOD OPPRESSORS

Like a lot of activists and freedom fighters before Erik, he understood that the only thing bullish power understands and responds to is another bullish power. The very idea of a peaceful debate or negotiation for freedom is a myth that almost never works when it comes to getting out from under an oppressive state. We’ve seen plenty try over the course of human existence.

In real life, the modern day example that quickly comes to mind is the African American community, unchained physically but bound to systemic bondage that manifests in police brutality and prejudice; Yemen who is under subjugation at the hands of multiple tyrannical powers; Crimea, Ukraine under the ruthless hands of Vladimir Putin, Rohingya people; and in comics-like world where Wakanda originates from, if the timeline of the Fox TV show ‘The Gifted’ is canon, mutants are still being persecuted by humans. Professor X’s pacifist approach to equality is never achieved.

It is a human trait that has stood the test of time regardless of our advancement in knowledge and social awareness. From children under their parents, to countries and races, true liberty is only accomplished when the oppressed gains an equal or higher amount of power as the oppressor.

From the fights for independence all over the globe to united forces against tyrannical movements in world wars, going toe to toe with your oppressor is the most effective way of securing freedom and this is a fact that Killmonger understood and, between him and T’Challa, better prepared to execute. The idea that he simply wants to murder thousands of people all over the world is reductive and insulting to a man of his intelligence and capabilities. He’s a graduate of MIT with accomplished careers in two elite United States Army units after all.

 

T’CHALLA’S IDEOLOGY? A FAILURE

If we compare the approach of both young men, how exactly would T’Challa’s social outreach program and revealing Wakanda’s identity help stop the persecution and oppression of minorities all over the world? Wakanda’s isolationist policy means it has no leverage over any country in the world to demand a change in their systemic treatment of minorities. Its influence on the United Nations would at most be as a sugar daddy to poorer countries.

Perhaps over time, through money and technology, it gains leverage over a few countries, during that time, another few hundred people have fallen victim to the fangs of persecution and T’Challa’s unwillingness to use Wakanda’s weapons on other countries limits the extent to which it can enforce its policy on others. Simply put, T’Challa’s diplomatic method while it might give Wakanda some nice PR doesn’t guarantee the freedom of the oppressed.

Read Also: Did the ancient Benin Kingdom inspire the fictional Wakanda?

Killmonger’s on the other hand, by establishing the might and power of Wakanda on other countries, gains the clout necessary to demand a change in the treatment of minorities. The United States is treated with reverence today by majority of countries in the world because of the global conviction it wouldn’t hesitate to destroy a country if she considered it necessary to her goals. It’s a conviction that guarantees that very few countries can stand up to the United States as an enemy and those countries are the ones that have a semblance of an equal amount of firepower to her.

This is the second advantage of Killmonger’s more aggressive method. The world is currently under its longest era of peace, not because we’ve all been baptized under a rain of love but by the assurance of mutual destruction should any one initiate war. Ultimately, that is what keeps bullies in check; self-preservation and outreach programs in black neighborhoods are not going to deliver that. Knowing a stealth missile from the mountains of Wakanda can wipe off your city overnight will.

KILLMONGER WAS RIGHT

Before the United States Civil War, black people have been fighting for their freedom for decades, rebelling against their owners in little pockets all over the country but while they sometimes recorded success, black people as whole were never getting their freedom until a man in charge of large amount of firepower proclaimed freedom and abolished slavery.

 

It was not until black people had an enormous amount of power in their corner in the form of the United States government did they achieve what they had been fighting for in decades. Just as slaves needed the United States government, minorities all over the globe need the might of Wakanda in their corner.

"If you want peace, prepare for war" – Vegetius, Roman General

To pretend a few innocents do not have to die to secure the freedom of the many is to ignore the reality of the human world. Killmonger, however much our nonviolent instincts might make us reject his movement, was right.

Written by Seun Adelowokan.

Seun Adelowokan. Humanist. Big Believer in Common Sense. Arsenal lover.

posted by Campus94