What is up everybody? Thank you so much for joining us. This is Michele Heyward, with KC Atha here for your DEI Thursday. Today we are going to talk about Black Panther and five and five reasons why Black Panther is diversity, equity and inclusion. Your life. What in the world are you really talking about? Um, so we want to take a really an introspective look at Black Panther. Um, you just lost Chadwick boseman, who is like me and sockliner native who actually the same age so this is a huge loss for me on a on a different level than a lot of people on being from South Carolina him having risen to fame, and really just how the characters he’s played, not just white Panther. He also played James Brown James Brown is literally an A it’s also a native of South Ilana and literally was born 12 miles from where I’m sitting. So for me it is a different type of loss from other fans because of what Chadwick bought to a lot of natives, especially in rural areas here in South Carolina. So I wanted wanted to definitely talk about the lens of Black Panther when it comes to protect me inclusion. So casing thought I was crazy at first and then she’s like, Oh, wait, this is really great. This is a good idea. So let’s, let’s get into it. So I’m gonna let KC kick it off, because she has some really fantastic notes. And then I have my own thing. So we might have more than five. But we just went with five because we don’t want to be here all day. We’re gonna kind of rein it in at five. Okay, so go, Hey, KC, and once you kick it off.

All right, well, I just want to start and say thanks, Michelle. consistently, you come up with great topics. And then when Michelle pitches me the topic, I think, hmm, and then I allow my brain to sort of go and that’s what got to happen. Last And so I did come up with about five, which I like to come up with five things. And I’ll just name the five and then go through them, and then we can chat about them. Is that sound good? Yes. All right. Cool. So the first one, I have my little notes over here. So the first one that came up for me was optimism. So well, let’s back it up. Sorry. So Black Panther is Afro futurism, which I have to admit I don’t really know that much about, but it has been very intriguing to me since Black Panther came out. So that’s already like, Hello, do you see the power there? Um, I know, it was big in the black community. But I’m in the Latino community, growing up where I did and it just wasn’t that I wasn’t introduced to it. So Black Panther introduced me to more afrofuturism understanding, understanding that it’s imagination, plus liberation plus the future plus technology. And that’s, that’s just fun. So, anyway, so here’s back to the five number one optimism so when you watch that, I feel the optimism, because we see outcomes and belonging, which is something that we are striving to bring more of into the workplace, into our lives into the way that we show up. We want to feel belonging, we want to feel optimistic about the potential outcomes that can come into our lives. So to me, that’s just number one. That’s the power of Black Panther and afrofuturism. So number two, I think is we’re also really powerful. It redefines culture and the notions of blackness. So how often do we see this portrayal of blackness? Not very often, right? So Rena defines it, it gives us a space to imagine something more, something different. And it breaks from so number three, I get excited about this one, it breaks from the anti black white settler narrative. And so what that means is that we have just been brought up in this society globally. Colonial As I’m spread out all over the place, so it’s not just the United States but we have this colonizer mentality. Um, you know if you’re powerful, or white is right, or whatever it is, that is, you know, our conditioning. And so whenever we think of something unconscious bias tells us you know, think of a doctor, boom, you’re thinking of a certain stereotype. Think of a teacher, think of a name it janitor, think of someone who does your lawn, think of someone who does your nails. Boom, we have our stereotype, bam in there. So afrofuturism breaks that it breaks that colonizer brain that taught us to think in very specific ways that keeps us in our place. So I just love it brink. So number one, optimism number two, redefining number three breaking from the settler narrative number four i need i don’t know maybe I’ll be called in for this and I’ll take it but it normalize the word colonizer for me and I got to say it, I got to say colonizer. As a pejorative, like very openly that just felt really liberating to me. I know that’s silly, but I just felt like I get to say that in like a way that is understood because so many people watch the movie. And so many people are hopefully being reflective about it and saying, What is this, you know, so that was number four. And then number five is normalizing black power. So black folks were centered, they were the powerful ones, they were the ones with technology, they were living a liberated life. Um, and that imagination of the future and possibilities is something that doesn’t come naturally to me. So I loved being able to see this. Um, so it just normalizes black power, people in power and to tie it into the workplace. I think we need to normalize seeing black people in power. So whenever it happens, people don’t just think, Oh, you were the diversity hire because our brains have been so conditioned to think in one way. So that’s sort of What I felt was very exciting as well as to add to the normalization of black people in power. And that interrupts white supremacy, the white supremacy narrative that we’ve just been swimming in the water we swim in that we oftentimes don’t see and is unconscious. So just to recap, optimism, redefining breaking from the colonizer narrative, I get to say colonizer and we get to see black people in power. So those are my top five. Okay, Michelle,

okay, no, this, this is how I see it in and I may not have five and they’re going to be somewhat interwoven into what KC has, has added. One thing that was great about Black Panther was the normalization of black people being smart. And so, of course, Sheree is my favorite character. She’s an engineer. She’s a scientist. She’s developing new technology right? So to me, that really is 180 degrees of what a lot of black women encounter, especially being technical professionals. Like she is true. Like we can name on one hand, who’s driving that? Like we’ve only had one black woman CEO, and she was a chemical engineer at Xerox. Right? We are talking about the system. Last night at Google, there was an agent, at&t, who did Voice over IP develop Voice over IP. We’re talking so we’re talking a handful of women, black women, specifically in engineering and technology, who are now 5060 Plus, like, so where’s that next generation? Um, where there’s the tail end Gen Xers that have developed technology that have no acknowledgement, and so to see that being acknowledged, like in charge, she wasn’t even question when she said, Hey, I have this next thing develop, right? He was taking it. She knew what the hell she was doing. They didn’t come in and out. Well, oh, well, can you get your boss? Or can you go make me a coffee? She said, she did what she did. She does what she do, and she’s damn good at it. And so that, for me was huge and pivotal, just coming in as a tendon professional as an engineer, as a tech startup founder that was truly important. And part of looking at it through a diversity, equity and inclusion lens. Number two, the warriors in the movie were women. Powerful, right? And, again, when you look at the military, you don’t see you they aren’t appreciated at the same level, as you see in Black Panther and I saw an Instagram post. And it was a woman and she was saying how she is a picture of her with a probably an eight year old boy. They’re both black, and it was at church and she was like, he doesn’t he believes that. I’m part of like pastors military. I forget what they’re called right now. And so she’s like he made he wanted to make sure I took a picture with him because she was bald. And so she was bald. So he was, so they’re doing like this. But what he, this young child sees the power of black women. And so because it was portrayed in such a positive way, in that movie, it literally is countered, contradicting what is often taught in white supremacy, what is really built in systemic racism, which are black women being over sexualized, not highly educated, having multiple children, single mothers, and it was completely different in the empowerment that comes from Black Panther. So breaking down the barriers and not barriers but breaking down what I want to say the stereotypes and when it comes to black women, so Third, the third thing that comes to mind It was really that black people create a powerful communities that are all black
that are driven by technology. But you know, it was a really interesting thing. They hid it from the world. Yeah, they hid it from the world, because what colonization had taught them, it would not be used appropriately. I want you to think about that. They hid it from the world because they felt and thought and had seen how colonization or colonizers would inappropriately use the technology, right? And so it’s really taken to account now. How how resources, whether we always say especially in tech startup space, black founders, brown founders are over mentor an under resource and they’re like, you know what, we’re not gonna give you this resource because you No, it has to do with it. And so it was very interesting to see that dynamic and how it was split onto the other side in the movie and how again, that technology was stolen to be used by a colonizer or something and a purpose that they did not agree with. So it was really, really interesting. But the next part that I really liked about Black Panther, um, and again, diversity, equity inclusion, so they weren’t inclusive of the use of cheering that technology. We were like, now, we’re not gonna do it. We’re not gonna be like, it’s not anti tech. It is they’re like, no, we’re not going to do it. But what was really the pivotal part for me was, and I’m at four, so I didn’t I don’t have I don’t have five yet. But the fourth one was that the end of the movie, when Bucky said the end of the movie, and sure it goes to Black Panther and says you won’t be another white boy to fix. It so often happens in movies and you can look at every single movie With a superhero, it is a white man saving the world. That is not what happened. And so when you look at the lens of how white supremacy has set up with its television, movies, books, history, even education system, the power and the impact that black people have had his grace. And Sheree was like, No, no, I’m a tech person if you really want me somebody else to say, and so it is a good it’s a black woman coming in to help and save the day. And it was just like, it’s no white savior in that in that moment. It is truly saying we are not charity. We have that we have what we need. We need you to do what you need to do to break down systemic racism. And so for me, it was so many different layers of diversity, equity inclusion, within Black Panther. If you put it in that lens, don’t get me wrong. Don’t Don’t go watch it. If you haven’t watched Don’t watch it through a DI lens at first just enjoy the movie
is really good.
Yeah, but, um, but also look at what it looks like on the other side when it comes when it comes to diversity and inclusion. And and lastly well this is the fifth thing when you think about diversity equity inclusion, that movie literally included black people in superheroes side, the only other superhero that had been big had been storm in x men that was that had generally been portrayed by black woman Halle Berry. This was the first time where you had a cast of black actors in a superhero movie at this level, performing this well. Um, there have been others don’t get me they’ve been David. I’m Robert Townson. years ago, he’s done great movies as well. Um, and as an actor and a director, and pulling in like, I’m, while I’m Eddie Murphy and other black actors so don’t I’m not downplaying them. What I’m really saying is Black Panther did at a level these other movies had not. And it’s truly important to understand the impact generation after generation like children literally little boys and little girls crying because the actor who played Black Panther to them is the same person right, has died. And so what does that mean to them as their opportunity and possibility? So, um, so it’s really, really important. So we have a yes, it’s important for our young ones to see themselves as heroes. It truly is. And that’s truly a dynamic um, when we think about representation and just a bonus, when we always talk about, especially with At positive power hire, we talk about representation. Why is it important to have representation from the C suite down in an organization and how that helps build out an inclusive workplace. How it helps then provide start providing on retention, better retention of your, your, your employee base, and help you also drive and create a more diverse employee base, especially as you improve your culture. Now, what we don’t often get to see is how that can truly impact of having somebody who looks like you. And I think having Chad with die, we saw the true impact of what that was right? In the reactions like Twitter even said, Oh my god, this is the most retweeted tweet in the history of Twitter. Have you seen that? It was about Chadwick both boseman I’m dying. And they had not seen that in what what is? Oh 806 since Twitter, it’s been around, it’s been 1012 1214 years. And that and that’s the impact of when you have somebody who represents you at that level, and you literally can dream, take a dream and make it reality. And whatever that reality is because it builds in a different type of hope, and aspiration and possibilities for you. So that’s why for me, especially coming from rural South Carolina, where you don’t have high speed internet, it is a completely different impact for a lot of people from the small towns who don’t have access to certain things. But this is one person that they can more relate to coming from a small state, with a high population of black residents, and citizens on how it can truly impact your hopes, dreams and aspirations. So that that’s my take on dei and some more when it comes to Black Panther and the late great Chadwick boseman.

You know, that’s good stuff. Michelle, and I, you know what? I’m going to keep thinking about the part I didn’t think about, you brought this up the part about where they didn’t want to share it. And sort of like understanding that it’s like the lack of trust because what they have experienced in the past or what they’ve seen happen in the past with the colonizer type mindset. And so they were afraid to share the technology because of fear of how it would be used. And I think about that a lot because we have a lot of technology and AI and how that’s being used. And the people coding it. I mean, AI has just been coded and embedded with supremacy in there at multiple levels, or multiple intersections, I mean, and so yeah, it’s like it’s a tool that can cause harm or not depending on who is in power and what and how they’re driven like, what are their values? And how are they going to decide? So you know, colonizer looking at power, money hoarding that making it more versus Black Panther community was more about, like, how do we make this benefit all people and also not get it in the wrong hands, but then, you know, and so that that’s interesting. I like that. I like thinking about that a little bit more. So now I have to watch it again. Michelle.
Good watch it, watch it 5011 more times, as we say, more time. But it’s it’s really important to understand the impact of having somebody who looks like you are look different than what you traditionally see on TV. And so I, you know, ever like you can’t you know, the thing of going around right on social media is you can’t replace Chadwick boseman. And people like, well, if we go back to the comic book, surely becomes the black pants. there so I’m for that. So I with that one. So you like however you do Black Panther, right the character the male version, right? Um what Charla, what are you gonna do when and how do you migrate now into surely becoming the Black Panther. So that’s what I’m really interested in I see girls in STEM take over for that when that movie drops, maybe that’s 2022 2024 right now with a pandemic, but it’s definitely going to change again the tide of what we see as far as the next generation. Because when that drops, it really is going to generally when you have movies like that if you look at what happened with Hidden Figures, it piques the interest in young people and even older people when it comes to fields and industries and technology and so forth. They are not familiar with. And so moms and parents and grandparents are buying all these toys and like I don’t know what this software is, this app is but we want to get you this and your main camp. So you’re going to see an influx when that movie drops because it’s going to drop and we want to push for it. I don’t know who exactly we is. But if you made me comment here, tweet me DM me, message me, email me because we need to make sure that happens because it will truly inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers, mathematicians, actuaries, right. They’re gonna drive and change so much when it comes to medical devices when it comes to AI machine learning. I’m manufacturing our environment right saving the ice caps, clean water. So they are really who we we have to focus on when we’re creating even fictional stories such as Black Panther.
That’s right. Well, I’m in join, add me to the left Okay,
come on, come on. gotta grab this list. All right, everybody. That is it. I will be back next week. Without KC. We will still be talking about diversity equity inclusion. I will see you next week Thursday. Everybody have a great week. KC was so
Oh yeah, good. Oh, I don’t know.
Bye, everyone.