It's "Wakanda Forever," Not "Wakanda For Everyone"

With Black Panther (and now Avengers: Infinity War) dominating the pop culture conversation, all things Wakanda are en vogue right now. Including the Wakanda salute, which featured heavily in the movie. As a part of nerd culture we often take things from our favorite fandoms and incorporate them into our lives. Black Panther is no different. But, as members of the modern world, we have to ask ourselves a basic question: should white people do the Wakanda salute?

SNL recently tackled the question in a skit and handled it rather well, arguing that while it is cool that people want to emulate a black superhero, white people don’t “give stuff back.”

Something that they don’t address (and how could they in a 3:34 sketch) is that even though we do the Superman flying pose and the Spider-Man webslinging, the Wakanda salute is more than Black Panther’s superhero symbol. It’s an entire country’s symbol. An entire black country. True, it’s a fictional country, but that doesn’t make it any less cultural appropriation.

If you don’t know what cultural appropriation is, there are articles all over the internet explaining and discussing it. But it’s basically taking something from a culture that is not your own without fully understanding or respecting this culture and its history.

Black Panther draws inspiration and influence from different parts of the African continent. There has been a lot of research done by the filmmakers to make Black Panther a part of the African continent. Therefore, it should be treated as such. You can appreciate the culture without taking it from someone else, and the Wakanda salute is part of that culture.

And the salute itself has taken on new meaning. Chadwick Boseman, the star of Black Panther, used it to greet Daniel Kaluuya and Jordan Peele at the Independent Spirit Awards to celebrate “Get Out.” Black athletes have used it to celebrate victories on the tennis court and soccer pitch. One of the actors flashed the salute during his bow in Jesus Christ Superstar Live on NBC.

Visibility is an important issue. As a white person, I don’t feel that white people can ever truly understand what lack of visibility, and, conversely, this new visibility means in fandoms. I can only offer my opinion as a member of the LGBTQ community. It isn't the same by any means, but I do understand that people outside of the direct circle of oppression never really grasp what it means to see someone like you represented and emulated.

The bottom line is while Superman and Spider-Man are meant to represent everyone (even though the are predominantly white men), Black Panther is not. That isn't to say everyone can't enjoy it. I loved the movie. Anyone can enjoy anything. But not everything is for everyone.

Again, as SNL stated, white people don't "give stuff back." We tend to take and twist without regard to where it came from. Because of that, I don't feel comfortable with other “colonizers” doing the Wakanda salute. It won’t hurt you to not do it, but it could really hurt someone else.

So let’s not.