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If It Was Wakanda or Themyscira Would We Call Each Other N**** And B****
I wrote an article about how I think Black people shouldn’t call each other the n-word, and women of any race, shouldn’t call each other b****.
It’s hard to have an opinion like that without someone accusing you of upholding respectability politics or concerning yourself with the white gaze, or male gaze.
I remember when Black Panther came out. It was huge. It seemed like all of Black America went to see the movie. Many of us dressed for the occasion in beautiful African inspired attire. I know I did. The fact that a movie about a fictional place of Black empowerment was so aspirational and inspirational to legions of Black people across the globe speaks volumes in itself. We have to look to the screen for what we should be seeing in real life, not because of our own actions, but because of global white supremacy.
No, Wakanda is not a real place, but it’s supposed to be ideal and the greeting was not what’s up my n-word. The greeting was the Wakanda salutation which consisted of placing your left arm across your chest then your right arm over the left.
Wonder Woman was another movie with a fictitious home island, Themyscira. It’s where the beautiful warrior women lived and they didn’t greet each other with what’s up bad b*****.
