Usually breaking news is along the lines of "Donald Trump does another dumbass and/or illegal thing".
This time it wasn't and I rather it was.
"Chadwick Boseman is dead."
Oh no! This can't be.
Sadly, it was.
At the age of 43, Chadwick Boseman was dead after a 4 year battle with colon cancer.
The man who brought to life Marvel's Black Panther, King T'Challa of Wakanda, was no more.
A 4 year battle with colon cancer means that most of Chadwick's turn as Marvel's super hero sovereign was made under the shadow of this terrible disease, making Boseman's work as the strong, stoic but still recognizably human T'Challa all the more remarkable.
As much as my family and I love Marvel movies, Blank Panther is the only one I've paid to see twice in the theater.
As much as Chadwick Boseman shined in this iconic role, there was more to him than playing a Marvel super hero.
About a year ago, I happen to catch on cable a showing of the 2017 film Marshall, a film about future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall who in 1940 was working as an NAACP lawyer defending people of color wrongly accused of crimes because of racial prejudice. Chadwick Boseman's performance as Marshall is captivating. His confidence in his legal acumen is considerable but his humanity is never far from the his brash facade. Marshall is tired, constantly on the road, alone and miles away from his wife, forced to confront racial injustice both personally and on behalf of his clients on a daily basis.
I just know Chadwick Boseman from his roles as the Black Panther and as Thurgood Marshall, a slim quantity of experience but I was never less than impressed by Boseman's power and talent as an actor.
Sadly, I observed online a few months ago Boseman being the object of a racist insult. A photo surfaced of Chadwick Boseman appearing quite gaunt, frail in appearance. Some racist troll decided to attribute this appearance to drug use and calling Boseman the "crack panther".
The source of that weak and weathered demeanor was the end result of Boseman's debilitating battle with cancer in it's final stages. Boseman deserved better than the racist snark of online trolls.
Chadwick Boseman, a man of considerable gifts as an actor, deserved more time on this earth than he got. Seeing not only that he was dead but dead at the age of 43, I could not help but wonder about a universe where the good die and the not so good are still with us.
Rest in peace, Chadwick Boseman.
In your memory, "Yibambe!" We must hold fast to stand up against injustice as T'Challa and Thurgood Marshall would do.
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