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Killmonger Ain’t Wrong: An Analysis of Erik Killmonger

Before we start, let me just state that Black Panther is still going strong. We got niggas out here going to see the movie not once, but TWICE, wearing dashikis and/or all black (I personally wore all black with red lipstick). That’s right, we got niggas spending money on expensive ass tickets multiple times because Black Panther is black excellence and we gon support this shit. Ain’t no bootlegging or waiting until it hits the dollar movies. Black Panther has currently made $411.7 million dollars domestically and over $700 million worldwide. It’s currently the third highest grossing Marvel Studios film in North America.  We did this shit, ya’ll. I saw a picture of my lil cousin going to see Black Panther with his daddy and that shit made me so happy. He has a strong, kind, positive black male superhero to look up to in 2018. Wakanda Forever! 

Now, let’s talk about Erik Killmonger - the fine ass, bad ass villain of Black Panther and my personal new favorite villain (The Joker is now my second favorite - debate me later, we ain’t doing this right now). Erik Killmonger is the cousin of T’Challa. 

N’Jobu, Killmonger’s father, was undercover in Oakland, CA but fell in love with a woman there and they created baby Killmonger. N’Jobu was killed by T’Challa’s father (T’Chaka) back in the day…because N’Jobu helped Klaue steal vibranium from Wakanda and then tried to get buck with T’Chaka and Zuri when they confronted him, so they put them claws on him and the rest is history. 

So that leaves a lil black boy in the hood, without a father, living in poverty and violence and all the other stuff that comes along with being black and poor in America…along with no real connection to his culture. All he knows is that his uncle killed his father and that Wakanda doesn’t really seem to care about black folks outside of Wakanda (to make it worse, I think N’Jobu was trying to find a way to help Black Americans and just went the wrong way about it - living in Oakland changed him, but we know Wakanda wasn’t bout that life at the time). And we really don’t see or hear about his mother, which gives me all the questions (can we have a Killmonger origin movie please?). It just seems like he was alone and had a hard knock life.

Psychologically, let’s think about the impact of this. The loss of a parent and witnessing or being subjected to violence can definitely be traumatic, especially for a child. Living in poverty can affect your mental health negatively as well. The lack of resources, seeing the injustices that those who look like you experience, all of it can weigh very heavily on a person. And life is not easy for our black men in America. 

The idea of Wakanda is an escape for Killmonger. Killmonger said it best, “Can you believe that? A kid from Oakland walking around believing in fairytales.” Wakanda is a fairytale…one he’s denied access to. I can imagine that experiencing these things with no healthy outlet and no one to show you how to address them appropriately can lead to a very hurt, very angry little boy who grows up to be a very hurt, very angry man. 

I’m not asking you to cry a river for Killmonger. He’s a grown ass man, he doesn’t need your tears or pity. But I’m just trying to paint a picture for you. And I fully believe he has every right to be angry about how his uncle just left him there after killing his father and how most of Wakanda (with the exception of Nakia and somewhat T’Challa) didn’t seem to care about black folks outside of Wakanda. They were more than okay sitting on all that vibranium and resources while others like Killmonger suffered. That’s something to be angry about. The oppression that black folk face is something to be angry about. Even MLK Jr. said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Sometimes you need that anger to motivate you to shake some shit up. And sometimes we need to shake things up. Keeping the peace just keeps the status quo.

I am personally not someone who believes in playing nice with your oppressors or the people who hurt you. You don’t owe them that. If they attack you, you have every right to defend yourself. When Killmonger took over Wakanda, that’s essentially what he was saying - our people have a right to fight back and protect themselves. He wanted to give them what they needed to fight back effectively. I can’t blame him for that. And technically he isn’t wrong in my eyes. Whenever I think of Killmonger’s stance, I think of this quote by Assata Shakur:

If our oppressors were so moral and nice, they wouldn’t be our oppressors. Of course, Killmonger’s methods were wrong. It would lead to more destruction and death and an imbalance of power, but it doesn’t mean his thought process was necessarily wrong. Unfortunately, all the bitterness led to him coming to the wrong solution to the problem. I think a lot of people dismiss Killmonger’s viewpoint because he doesn’t play nice and because of the method he chose. Killmonger is angry and feels justified in his anger - he makes no apologies. A lot of oppressed folk make apologies for feeling angry, they try to make those in privileged positions feel more comfortable with being privileged so they don’t look like they’re being overly sensitive or the angry black woman/man. Or maybe they’ve become desensitized and don’t see the issue or how the “little things” lead to the big things. Or maybe they just don’t care, who knows. 

But change doesn’t happen when we’re comfortable. And while Killmonger was wrong in wanting to give everyone vibranium like Oprah gives out cars, to throw away his entire viewpoint is a complete and utter disservice to who he represents - the ancestors who jumped from ships into the ocean because they knew death was better than bondage.