Black Panther sensation inspires fundraisers

By Chelsea Emode

The applause just got louder and louder as the movie went on. And after the screening of the highly-anticipated Black Panther film at the Lansdowne Cineplex Cinema, the crowd pumped up by the movie’s all-black cast and African themes poured out into the lobby.

Many were dressed in traditional African clothing – colourful batiks and bright headscarves – and some said that a movie jam-packed with black heroes has been a lifetime coming.

One organizer of the party-like screenings of the film that took place across the city said the movie represents a cultural milestone.

“I’m 22 years old and it’s been 22 years too long that I’ve been waiting for this moment to happen,” said Fadhili Samba, a University of Ottawa student from the Democratic Republic of Congo who started the Black Panther Initiative Ottawa. “I got a friend who bought three tickets, he’s going to go tomorrow, Friday and Saturday.”

Samba said most sci-fi movies tend to erase black people but the fictional African nation of Wakanda in Black Panther shows that black people are not chained to the past. “I know too many people who would cut off an arm and leg to have that kind of representation when they were a kid. Now they’re grown up and they’re making sure their entire family is going to watch the movie,” she said.

The Feb. 16 release of the Marvel superhero movie created a pop culture sensation and smashed box-office records.

In Ottawa, the premiere inspired groups like Samba’s initiative to come together to celebrate and to provide more than 300 people with free tickets to see the movie at Ottawa’s Lansdowne VIP and South Keys Cineplex locations.

Samba’s Black Panther Initiative Ottawa is using a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising $7,000 to provide 200 children from The Boys and Girls Club with the free transportation and viewing of the film. Samba said Canada has the same problema with racism and sexism as the U.S. and a solution is to make marginalized voices more valuable and to represent them as valuable.

“Canadian children can benefit from it as well. If they can see that Captain America and Superman and Iron Man are just as cool as Black Panther then that’s going to transcend into their adult life,” Samba said. “They will think ‘other people are just as cool as I am, as important as I am or their story is just as important as my story’.”

At least three Facebook event pages in Ottawa have been inspired by the movie, including pages sponsored by Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies Student Association (IASSA), the Race Ethnicity and Culture Hall (REC Hall) and individual organizers Vladimir Jean-Gilles and Delphine St-Fort.

According to the Cineplex website, both the Lansdowne VIP and South Keys theatres had sold out Black Panther screenings prior to the debut showings.

The coordinator of the REC Hall, who is Ghanaian and prefers to be referred to as Selali A-W, said it is important for people in the Black community to recognize each other, validate each other, and over all have each other’s backs.

“We have 100 tickets bought already for Black Panther because we want to give people a chance to see this movie in a way that is accessible to them in ways that usually is not,” A-W said ahead of the film’s release. “We figured, wow, the one thing we can see is that this means a lot to people. People really want to do this in a group and this is something that we are all rallying about and is an opportunity for us to really see each other the way that we don’t get to in Ottawa.”

Beverly Osazuwa, Nigerian herself and the director of arts and culture with Carleton’s Campus Activity Board, said the board supported the IASSA’s event by providing up to 25 tickets that could be won by students who answered what Black History Month means to them.

“On the side of the IASSA, they want to bring in local African vendors to sell clothes and stuff that students can buy before they meet up on the Friday and go to the event,” Osazuwa said.

Osazuwa said people are reclaiming African clothing and food as something to be proud of.

Many people planning to attend a screening of the film have taken to Twitter to share their #WakandaStyle or #WakandaFashion to show pride in their blackness and in what the movie represents, said Samba.

Vladimir Jean-Gilles, who is of Haitian background, is an editor at SHIFTER Magazine and a film critic and commentator at CBC Radio. He said he and Delphine St-Fort wanted to gather people to celebrate Black History Month as a community by encouraging wearing African or Caribbean attire to the theatre. He said they were only expecting the event – that has now gathered the interest of over 300 people on Facebook – to reach 10 or 20 people.

“Everyone that’s messaging us is telling us that they have their dashikis, they love the idea, they have African dresses or Caribbean shirts and they’re ready to come through,” he said.

Jean-Gilles said the purpose of these events is to illustrate that the Black community can accomplish great things when they come together.

“If Black Panther makes a lot of money at the box office then it’s going to be great because Hollywood will get to understand how important it is for everyone to feel included in everything they’re doing,” he said.