Black Panther: Wakanda Forever special screening for kids in Hamilton helps shatter Black stereotypes | 24CA News
For the primary time within the 5 years since they moved to Canada from Dubai, Abdullah and Sophia Allamy had been capable of take their 5 youngsters for a household outing — a particular big-screen viewing of Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever.
“This was the first time for us to go to a movie, all of us as a family,” Sophia stated concerning the Saturday occasion, including that having three youngsters beneath 5 makes it tough to plan journeys out.
It was all doable due to Empowerment Squared, a Hamilton non-profit that helps racialized, marginalized and new Hamiltonians, and paid for the tickets and snacks. Around 120 individuals, principally households with youngsters, attended the Saturday morning screening at Jackson Square’s Landmark Cinema. Families grabbed popcorn whereas conventional African drumming rang out.
Leo Johnson, founding father of Empowerment Squared, stated the Black Panther movies are supposed to be enjoyable, however there’s additionally an necessary message — they begin conversations about how Black persons are depicted in media.
“A lot of Black families have seen themselves negatively stereotyped for a long time,” he stated, including that the Black Panther films present Black individuals in a “different light”.
Olohigbe Asikhia introduced her seven-year-old son Jay and three-year-old daughter Joy to look at the film.
Jay stated his favorite components of the film had been watching the combating scenes, seeing Black Panther in his go well with, and having popcorn.
Asikhia stated her youngsters seeing Black superheroes on the massive display is necessary.
“We have a preconceived image of what heroes look like,” Asikhia stated. “So, to see our culture being showcased, the richness of our culture, is an amazing experience.
“For them to see it … It’s a means of connecting again to our tradition and our ancestors.”
Johnson said Black children need to see themselves represented in the media, and it’s just as important for kids who aren’t Black to see Black people in roles as heroes and scientists, as is shown in the Black Panther films.
“We must let Black youngsters and newcomer youngsters begin to imagine they’ve the identical prospects like each different little one, and extra importantly for non-Black youngsters as properly, to start to undo the adverse stereotypes which were created in society,” Johnson said.
‘The diversity of appreciating other cultures’
Before the movie played Saturday, Johnson led an African drum circle to welcome visitors to the theatre.
“There’s nothing extra acceptable for what we had been doing than opening with some African drumming,” he stated.
Asikhia said, “Where we come from [in Nigeria], that is what we name the speaking drum. The speaking drum is an previous conventional means of chanting to the ancestors.
“I really appreciate a little showcasing of culture and the diversity of appreciating other cultures, and the unity and the blending of all the cultures together.”
For extra tales concerning the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success tales throughout the Black group — try Being Black in Canada, a CBC venture Black Canadians may be happy with. You can learn extra tales right here.
