Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Hero who gave us template for a better future
I spent Saturday morning reaffirming the concept of legacy to my kids.
I had to wait, of course, until they’d sat spellbound in front of the TV, soaking up every last item of rolling news before they ’d satisfied themselves that it really wasn’t a grotesque hoax – the Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman had been taken from us, aged just 43.
Legacy is not the nonsense of the final tweet from the American’s account boasting the most likes/acknowledgements ever.
Boseman’s parting gift was empowering youngsters like mine, yours and millions around the world to follow his example and to be the change that they want to see.
It was in proving to the film industry that a black movie that didn’t just focus on black pain and suffering could shatter box office records and appeal to all audiences.
Boseman had been inspired to seek out positive black roles having seen too few previously.
He went on to play th e musi c legend James Brown , the first black American in baseball’s major l ea gu e, Jacki e Robinson, and Thurgood Marshall , the f i r st Af r i c a nAmerican US supreme court justice. Then of course, came the Marvel superhero Black Panther.
In the 80s when I grew up, Huggy Bear from Starsky & Hutch summed up the negative attitude of TV and film towards black characters. If they were not portrayed as gangsters or pimps they were seemingly directed to endear themselves to audiences by making them laugh.
B o s e ma n e xu d e d d i g n i ty a n d authority i n and out of character, inspiring a generation of kids to triumph through adversity.
Even the fact that he’d shot the following films, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Marshall, two Avengers movies, 21 Bridges and Da 5 Bloods, all after being diagnosed with stage 3 cancer which he’d kept quiet, was a life lesson in itself. It reminded us all that e v e r y o n e , e v e r y d ay, is fighting their own private battle – and to respect that f act as we go through life.
As we parents look to raise the young men and women of the future, Boseman could not have provided us with a better template. It wasn’t just my kids with a lump in their throats on Saturday morning.
He exuded dignity and authority – both in and out of character
Know anyone “dreaming of Christmas” right now? Me neither. Jobs, schools, masks, health, maybe. But not Santa. The supermarkets, however, release their Christmas up foods this week. Waitrose say Xmas internet searches during July and August were on last year. Somebody should remind them millions of people had little else to do.