All About #WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe

#WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe is trending today. (Shout-out to Black Girls Nerd for getting the conversation going!) It's the second best thing on the internet this year, after this video.

It's also something I've been thinking about for a while.

What does Black Panther mean to me, Alyssa Klein?

Before I continue, it's important for me to note that there are hundreds and hundreds of think-pieces and tweets on Black Panther written by Black writers. You should 100% read what Black Panther means to them first.

And now, some context.

As a former editor at OkayAfrica, I had the great honor of writing about African superheroes. There are a TON. As with other creative industries, there's no shortage of young Black people doing dope shit in the comic book world, like Loyiso Mkize and his South African teen superhero, Kwezi, or Roye Okupe and his pre-colonial warrior queen, Malika, or the Lagos-based crew behind the Vortex superhero universe.

Yet, until Black Panther, African superheroes hadn't been given the opportunity to appear on the silver screen. (Unless you're counting X-Men's Storm, whose Kenyan roots are hardly touched on in the movies.)

Everything changed with the dawn of Marvel's incredibly Black Black Panther franchise. I remember sitting at a coffee shop in Johannesburg during Comic-Con 2016 and thinking 2018 seemed soooooo far away.

But 2018 is here. And Black Panther hits cinemas next week.

I haven't been this excited about a movie in a while, and yet, I also feel the need to contain my excitement.

Why?

Because this movie was not made for me. And that's exactly why I need to support it.

Now is the time for me to step up and ask white people to go see Black Panther, and then write a review (a glowing one) on Rotten Tomatoes, especially to thwart any Alt-Right attempts to sabotage Black Panther's Rotten Tomatoes score.

But white people, don't stop there.

It's important to support Black blockbusters, but it's also important to support independent films made by Black filmmakers.

Start doing research on Black films and TV. If you need any resources, Shadow & Act is a great place to start. So is OkayAfrica and Okayplayer.

Follow Black film critics and Black voices in cinema. April Reign is brilliant. So is Luvvie. My favorite director, Ava DuVernay, is always sharing important insight into all things film and entertainment. Follow her!

Support Black Panther. Support Black films. Support Black art.

P.S., the video for Kendrick and SZA's Black Panther single, "All the Stars," just came out. It's super cool!