Wakanda, Women, and the Black Church
By Ulysses Burley, MD, Columnist
Five weeks into the Marvel Studios’ release of Black Panther and the blockbuster movie still reigns supreme at the box office. As the first $100+ million film directed by a black man and centered around a predominantly black cast depicting an uncolonized black utopia, Black Panther is a celebration of blackness and the richness of the African Diaspora. Even more so than blackness in general, Black Panther is a celebration of black women specifically.
Black Panther introduces us to the Dora Milaje, an all-female army of the fiercest, most loyal defenders of the throne and protector of King T’Challa. We meet Angela Bassett as Ramonda, the once queen of Wakanda, a regal and wise matriarch. My favorite character, Shuri, the Wakandian Princess and brains behind the most STEM-advanced nation on earth. Black women are the lifeblood of Wakanda.
Perhaps the closest we come to a Wakandian society where black women are the lifeblood circulating through the body is the Black Church. Like in Wakanda, black women are the most loyal members and protectors of the Black Church. Also, like in Wakanda, black women power the programs and build the infrastructure needed to sustain the Black Church. However, likewise in Wakanda, women are largely still not given the opportunity to be the head of the church body.
There is a scene in the movie where anyone of Wakandian descent can challenge the succession of T’Challa as heir to the throne. When Zuri, the elder statesman played by Forrest Whitaker asks if there is anyone brave enough to challenge T’Challa for the opportunity to be crowned King of Wakanda, T’Challa’s sister, Princess Shuri, playfully interjects as if she was challenging her brother, only to jokingly ask, “Can we get on with this already?” Yet, the initial reaction Ramonda gives Shuri before learning that she is only kidding is one of shock and disbelief. It was as if to ask, “How dare you, a woman, have the audacity to challenge our traditional patriarchal monarchy?”
Even when we are given the power to create our own utopian society where black women are held in a higher regard, they are still not held in the highest regard. Patriarchy is so ingrained in our reality that it even infiltrates our imagination. Wakanda is not much different than the Black Church in this regard.
It wasn’t until this year, 2018, for the first time in history that an African American woman became the lead pastor of a 20,000+ member megachurch when Bishop IV Hilliard of New Light Christian Center Church in Houston, Texas, named his daughter, Dr. Irishea Hilliard, as senior pastor.
When asked about her father’s decision to name her as his successor, Dr. Hilliard explained, “He really wanted a boy and I was supposed to be a boy. He always thought, you know, I don’t have a boy, so I don’t have someone to pass the church to, but in that moment, God spoke to him and told him he got it right, and that I was always meant to be his successor and take over the ministry and I was his promised seed.”
What if, however, he’d had that boy he always wanted? Would Dr. Hilliard have been an afterthought or would she have been allowed to compete with her brother for the top spot at their church? What if King T’Chaka never had T’Challa? Would tradition then take a back seat to entertain Princess Shuri as the rightful heir to the Wakandian throne? If Wakanda’s greatness is hinged upon a society predominantly sustained by women, what then could the possibilities be if those very women were given an opportunity to lead?
I pose this very question to black churches everywhere. During this era of #metoo, #timesup, #WakandaForever, and all the other hashtags that highlight the powerful influence of women, I hope that black women, in particular, are not just the honorees of our Women’s History Month programs at church but that they are being praised year round for their leadership and therefore considered as more than just the hands and feet of the black body of Christ.
