Thursday, the global film phenomenon of the “Black Panther” franchise returns to theaters with the release of the sequel "Wakanda Forever.”
For many, it’s more than a movie, but a celebration of black culture, an accomplishment of black creatives and inspiration for young people.
In North Texas, the film is being used to elevate conversations in Fort Worth’s Morningside community. It’s a community working to give its young people something to strive for in the future.
“The movie couldn’t have come at a better time. In our community, we’ve had four teenagers shot and killed in our neighborhood less than a month ago and the community is still dealing with the trauma of that event,” Rev. Kyev Tatum said. “What better way to help these kids come up and out of that fog.”
The students in Morningside Middle School’s “Boyz2Men” program will attend the local premiere and meet an actor from the film.
The school is near the place where four teenagers were found shot and killed in a car in early October.
“When it happens in your own backyard… and you know the family members and you know the kids – it hits up close and personal,” Tatum said.
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Actor, Jarrell “Pyro” Johnson, will meet with the students and share stories about being on set with so many successful black men and women. Leaders hope he can talk about the worlds of possibility awaiting the students beyond their current lives and circumstances.
“I discovered that if we don’t give kids, especially black kids in these neighborhoods something to live for – they’ll die for anything,” Tatum said.
Tatum said, as leaders, they are compelled to go to different places to inspire youth - sometimes it’s into a movie theater and sometimes it’s into a fictional world of Wakanda. Ultimately, they hope the students will learn to find the everyday superhero in themselves and what marvels they can accomplish in real life.
“For our kids, one of the worst things that they have right now is low self-esteem, low self-value, and low self-worth,” Tatum said. “We need to help them know that they’re valuable, know that they are worth something.”
