Dumbo Feather – July 2019

But the thing about Killmonger though is he

wanted to dominate. He wanted to have ultimate

control and absolute power to change a broken

system but then be an autocrat over that system.

So people will say, “I’m a Bernie supporter, are you telling me I have to bridge with a Trump

supporter?” Or I talked about Pastor McBride and when I first exposed him to this idea he

said, “So, john, are you telling me I have to bridge with the devil?” And my response was,

“Don’t start there.” But be careful of who you consider the devil. So I said,

Start with something relatively easy. Because it’s like a muscle. Right? It’s like your first time

out, don’t run a marathon. Just walk around the block. And then maybe you’ll run around the

block. And a few years later you might be running a marathon. Once we look for it, belonging

is everywhere. It’s in Christianity, it’s in Buddhism, it’s in Hinduism, it’s in Islam. It shows up

in families, it shows up just in love. I mean, Black Panther. That was the issue. It was like, “Do

we bridge as this advanced civilisation? Do we bridge with this messed up world?” To me one

of the beauties in the movie was that Killmonger was the one saying yes. The Black Panther

was saying no. I mean there’s one line where Black Panther’s saying, “I’m King of Wakanda.

My people are here.” And then Killmonger says, “Aren’t all people from Africa?” You know.

“Isn’t everyone your people?” I mean it’s actually quite beautiful, right? Such knowledge.

Well that’s exactly right. Two things make him flawed.

But that’s good. I talk a lot about Nelson Mandela and

others. Dr King. And, you know, people say King was sort

of a womaniser and what about Coretta Scott King? But to

me the flawedness actually makes them more attractive.

Because if I can do something only when I’m pure, I’ll never do it. And to me in a funny way,

and this may sound strange, that’s part of the problem with Jesus. He’s too pure. We get

into a religious practice because we’re trying to make meaning of life and we’re trying to

get through deep problems and suffering. And one of our deep problems is just dealing

with relationships, you know, romantic relationships. But as far as we know Jesus didn’t

have one. We have to deal with the issue of ageing, our own body sort of betraying us and

finding out we don’t know ourselves in the way we thought. And Jesus didn’t have to deal

with ageing. He was out of here at 33. Or dealing with the fact that parents and loved ones

are dying. And Jesus, this guy, he’s not dying, you know. So he doesn’t have much to say to

me. I mean obviously I think there’s a lot to learn from all religions, including Christianity.

But in terms of life and watching someone go through it, this ideal is problematic. If I’m

alcoholic, I’m more likely to learn from someone who’s been there and come out than

someone who’s never had a drink. So to some extent I think Killmonger represents all

of our struggle, right? But Black Panther does as well. And one of the things in terms of

movement work, in terms of political work, in terms of social justice work and in terms of

confronting the powerful in situations that want to other us, is to actually flip it. So white

people dominate it, we’ve got to dominate. And oftentimes in our language we actually end

up saying that. When we talk about demographic changes, for example, often times implicit

in that is that we have the majority now, we’re going to kick butt. We’re going to win.

“Build short bridges.” Short bridges might be with

your uncle. Your cousin. Your estranged brother.

It may be people who share many things but have,

for whatever reason, created these walls. So don’t

start with the most difficult.

106

JOHN A. POWELL

DUMBO FEATHER