{"id":5410,"date":"2018-03-15T20:34:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T20:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?p=5410"},"modified":"2025-06-10T13:47:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T17:47:01","slug":"black-panther-killmonger-boys-color-trauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/safe-blog\/black-panther-killmonger-boys-color-trauma\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Panther, Killmonger and The Boys Of Color Who Experience Trauma"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 15, 2018<\/em>
\nBy Brian Pacheco<\/em><\/p>\n

*Trigger & Spoiler Warning: the following articles contain\u00a0spoilers of Black Panther and shares details about violence. <\/em><\/p>\n

As a kid, I was more of a Catwoman kind of boy. I was never really into male Superheroes, so when I heard about Black Panther, I wasn\u2019t interested. My friend had to drag me to see the film.<\/p>\n

But I was blown away. I was surprised by how much of my own story, and the stories of the men in my life, I saw reflected in the film. In fact, it brought back so many memories of my own childhood. Like the scenes depicted at the beginning of Black Panther, I grew up in a low-income, predominately black and Latino neighborhood. My father is Afro-Latino, and both my parents are Puerto Rican. The basketball court that Killmonger played in as a young boy looked almost identical to the one that was outside of my own apartment complex.<\/p>\n

Like Killmonger, I grew up experiencing events that would be considered \u2018traumatic\u2019 (i.e. domestic violence, child abuse and bullying) in my own life and the lives of the boys and men around me. Of course, we didn\u2019t label them that way back then. It was just my life: like so many others, full of beautiful, funny, scary, painful, and unforgettable moments.<\/p>\n

Working at Safe Horizon, I\u2019ve learned language and concepts that have allowed me to name and move past traumatic events in my life, but not everyone has these resources.<\/p>\n

Like Killmonger, so many boys and men of color do not get to process their traumas with the same support that is available to others. Our voices and our stories are so often muted from the conversations of trauma. In fact, the very word \u201ctrauma<\/em>\u201d is not often in our vocabulary. That\u2019s why when I saw Black Panther, I was so thrilled to see how trauma was not only a central part of the movie but that the hurt and pain of boys of color (in this case, black boys) were humanized.<\/p>\n

I recently had a conversation with my colleague Paul Barrett, Jr. (also a man of color), project manager for Safe Horizon\u2019s Enhanced Service for Boys and Young Men of Color, to explore these themes further.<\/p>\n

BRIAN:<\/strong> In Black Panther, Michael B Jordan’s character Erik Killmonger lost his father to homicide, which is traumatic. What is the impact on boys and young men of color when they witness violence or lose a caregiver to violence?<\/p>\n

PAUL: <\/strong>What is anyone\u2019s experience when they lose a loved one? There is grief, deep sense of loss, anger and powerlessness, to name a few. But the way that men are taught to be socialized is largely that your manhood is grounded in your ability to assert dominance over others. These messages are no different for black or white boys. What is different is that white male toxicity is normalized, while for men of color it is pathologized [seen as abnormal] and demonized.<\/p>\n

Look at when white men vandalize property and riot after a sporting event, the media frames it as a celebration. But when black men protest for their basic human rights, and if they vandalize priority, they are framed as thugs and vandals. Why is the framing different?<\/p>\n

BRIAN:<\/strong> What is the best way to address a young boy’s trauma? Are there enough of these services?<\/p>\n

PAUL:<\/strong> Take the best of what we do for everyone else and do that for boys and young men of color. We need to funnel more resources to communities of color. One of the feelings I left the movie with was that Killmonger would not have become Killmonger if King T-Chaka had brought him to Wakanda. He was left to deal with a traumatic event [death of his father] on his own.<\/p>\n

For service providers, if a young man of color comes to you after getting robbed, it isn\u2019t just \u201cFill out this compensation form.<\/em>\u201d It\u2019s humanizing this scary experience and asking, \u201cHow are you doing?<\/em>\u201d So often, these questions aren\u2019t asked because society doesn\u2019t see men, boys of color, as people who experience trauma. We blame them for the hurt that has come to them. Any agency that works directly with or interacts with young people needs to move past \u2018What materials resources do you need?\u2019 and dig into \u2018How are you doing?\u2019<\/p>\n

BRIAN:<\/strong> The film explored the effects of structural racism, such as poverty and lack of resources in communities of color in the U.S. How does structural racism affect boys and young men of color?<\/p>\n

PAUL:<\/strong> Therapeutic resources, social services, financial resources that can direct a person away from risky behavior and exposure to harm is readily available in most white communities. Yes, there are still poor white communities, but at a disproportionate rate, these resources are not as accessible to communities of color. When you look at the intersection of class and race, people of color are more likely\u2014even if they are not poor\u2014 to live in less resourced communities than white people.<\/p>\n

BRIAN:<\/strong> Erik Killmonger ended up as the antagonist in the film because he wanted to avenge his father’s death. Do boys with unaddressed trauma go on to harm others?<\/p>\n

PAUL:<\/strong> Let me be clear: not all people who experience violence or trauma go on to harm others\u2014many don\u2019t. Trauma affects functionality. Unaddressed trauma can lead to self-harm, harming others, being hyper-vigilant and sensitive, as examples. There is a real need to address the effects of trauma after it happens. Even then, it really should be as simple as responding to the trauma of boys and young men of color because they are human beings. You can be the toughest, hardest, dude around and you still want to get stuff off your chest. We need to normalize sharing feelings.<\/p>\n

BRIAN:<\/strong> The theme of fathers and sons was an important one in the movie, and resonated with so many black men who watched the movie. Why do you think that is?<\/p>\n

PAUL:<\/strong> It exists because in many ways in the black community we have been taught to believe fathers are the solution to the trauma that boys are experiencing. \u2018If their dad was around, all this would be solved.\u2019<\/p>\n

I do not want to hate on the need for fathers to be in a child\u2019s life. I just became a father myself, but if all black men came out of prison then underlying issues such as white supremacy, structural racism, and toxic masculinity would still exist. And these are the root causes of what is pushing forward much of the trauma boys and young men of color experience.<\/p>\n

Of course, it is important to note that many many black men are great fathers to their children and the absence of black fathers is not specifically because they are incarcerated.<\/p>\n

BRIAN:<\/strong> Safe Horizon is strengthening our services for boys and young men of color. What can we learn from Black Panther?<\/p>\n

PAUL:<\/strong> We look at boys and young men of color as this distinct species. What I love about this movie was that it was a human a** movie. There were funny scenes, tension, nuance\u2014people changed over time.<\/p>\n

It also humanized the trauma of loss\u2014whether that is losing a family member to homicide or generational\/historical trauma for black communities that we are still grappling with. So many of us are searching for home and our roots. Few white people have to grapple with this. For example, my last name is Barrett\u2014that is a slave name.<\/p>\n

But what I really took away was this: The representation of Killmonger was very human. His rage is totally understandable. To me, he represents a subset of black people who are validly angry, both at injustices of white supremacy and inaction of certain people within the black community. Yet, his rage is not effectively channeled.<\/p>\n

So many people who saw the film said: \u201cI was rocking with him.<\/em>\u201d This reads like so many black men I know. Unfortunately, the direction he was trying to move his anger in won\u2019t help him or \u2018us.\u2019 But, Killmonger has experienced traumatic events. His response is fueled by hurt. And how do we respond to that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We explore the themes of trauma in Black Panther as the movie humanizes the hurt and pain of boys of color.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":{"id":9685,"alt_text":"Support children and families in domestic violence shelters","caption":"Peggy Duffy Memorial fund","description":"Support children and families in domestic violence shelters","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":512,"height":512,"file":"2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail.png","filesize":31715,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-300x300.png","width":300,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/png","filesize":18595,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-300x300.png"},"thumbnail":{"file":"Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/png","filesize":8008,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail-150x150.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":9684,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Safe-Horizon-Flower-Logo_TransparentThumbnail.png"},"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2015],"tags":[871,873,547],"class_list":["post-5410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-safe-blog","tag-black-panther","tag-killmonger","tag-young-men-of-color","issue-victims-of-other-abuse"],"acf":{"page_header_title":"","page_header_image":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image.png","page_header_excerpt":"","original_url":"","related_initiative_title":"How do we help survivors of crime?","related_initiative_link":"\/get-help\/victims-of-other-abuse\/","related_initiative_link_text":"Learn about our services","featured_posts":[{"ID":1355,"post_author":"12","post_date":"2016-06-27 18:56:23","post_date_gmt":"2016-06-27 18:56:23","post_content":"Read about how our Court Program that helped Fernando\u00a0is supported by Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.<\/a>\r\n\r\n

\"Gay<\/center>*Fernando\u2019s warm and ready smile tells you that there\u2019s something special about him. But this seemingly carefree soul has had his fair share of troubles. He came out as gay and because of it was made fun of at school and shunned by his conservative Latino family. Fernando adopted a dog and named her Hope because of the love and happiness he dreamed of having one day.\r\n\r\n
\"Fernando's<\/center>Fernando thought that things would change when he met Brian. But unfortunately, after seven years of sharing a home together, Fernando felt that the chance for a better life was slipping further away. Brian physically, verbally and psychologically abused Fernando, and even threatened to harm Hope if Fernando broke up with him.\r\n

Fernando was one of the 1 in 4 gay men who experience rape, physical violence, and\/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\nFernando was unsure of how he could protect himself and his beloved pet, until he found Safe Horizon.\r\n

Overcoming Domestic Violence<\/h2>\r\nWhen Fernando first came to one of our criminal court-based programs he was reeling. He had been in a hospital recovering from one of Brian\u2019s brutal physical attacks. The attack happened after Fernando broke up with Brian and was collecting his belongings from the apartment. Although Fernando reported the incident and Brian was arrested, he was still unsure of what to do next.\r\n\r\nThe physical wounds hurt, but he also felt ashamed and intimidated opening up to the police. He felt self-conscious that sharing the personal details of his life would make people think less of him as a man and that he would be judged and rejected, just as he was by his parents. Thankfully, Fernando overcame his fear and asked the police for more help. They connected Fernando to our compassionate team where he could find guidance navigating the court system to work through his domestic violence situation.\r\n

Finding Safety after Domestic Violence<\/h2>\r\nOur staff is trained to empower survivors of violence to be in charge of their own recovery process. Fernando met a case manager named Carla and told her that he was concerned about his own safety as well as the well-being of his pet, whose life was in Brian\u2019s hands. Since Brian could attack Fernando again, Carla helped Fernando file for and obtain an Order of Protection. She advised Fernando to carry the Order of Protection with him in case Brian retaliated.\r\n\r\nFinding initial safety was hard, but putting the pieces of his life back together would be even harder. Since the couple lived together, Fernando\u2019s decision to leave became the decision to be homeless. To support himself, Fernando needed to find low-income housing, but the availability was limited and getting placement was both complicated and time-consuming.\r\n

A Sign of Hope for Fernando<\/h2>\r\nCarla guided Fernando and assisted him with completing an application for permanent housing through the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). A sign of hope arrived in the form of an approval letter for NYCHA priority status, which meant that Fernando had been successfully accepted on the waiting list for permanent housing. In the meantime, he lives with a friend and has his extra belongings in a secure storage facility.\r\n\r\nDedicated to ensuring the safety of everyone involved in instances of crime and abuse, Carla advocated with the ASPCA to rescue Hope and arrange for her to be placed in a temporary shelter. Unfortunately, Hope arrived sick and was desperately in need of lifesaving surgery. Carla continued to coordinate with the ASPCA who subsidized the surgery and saved the dog\u2019s life.\r\n

One Step Closer to a Safe Horizon<\/h2>\r\nFernando was relieved that he finally had Hope, and that together, they would finally be on a journey to freedom from violence. Fernando often visits his beloved pet at the animal shelter while he continues to wait for a home of his own. Fernando came to us distraught and terrified, but with the help of our caring guides and advocates, Fernando feels safe and looks forward to a new life with his best friend, Hope.\r\n\r\n* Client names and identifying information have been changed to protect their privacy. Images used are representations of Safe Horizon\u2019s clients.<\/em><\/span>","post_title":"Fernando and A Dog Called Hope","post_excerpt":"Fernando spent seven years sharing a home with his abusive partner Brian while holding onto his dog Hope for support. Fernando was unsure of how he could live without fear until he found Safe Horizon.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"fernando-and-a-dog-called-hope","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-04-01 14:42:25","post_modified_gmt":"2019-04-01 14:42:25","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/safehorizon.dev\/uncategorized-en\/fernando-and-a-dog-called-hope\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"custom_scripts":[{"ID":6892,"post_author":"6","post_date":"2019-03-26 15:13:53","post_date_gmt":"2019-03-26 15:13:53","post_content":"","post_title":"US Restricted - Chat","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"us-restricted-chat","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-08-28 18:44:26","post_modified_gmt":"2019-08-28 18:44:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?post_type=custom-scripts&p=6892","menu_order":0,"post_type":"custom-scripts","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"show_author_bio":false,"title_font_size":"42","sub-headline_placement":false},"yoast_head":"\nBlack Panther, Killmonger and The Boys Of Color Who Experience Trauma<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We explore the themes of trauma in Black Panther as the movie humanizes the hurt and pain of boys of color.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/safe-blog\/black-panther-killmonger-boys-color-trauma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Panther, Killmonger and The Boys Of Color Who Experience Trauma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We explore the themes of trauma in Black Panther as the movie humanizes the hurt and pain of boys of color.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/safe-blog\/black-panther-killmonger-boys-color-trauma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Horizon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/safehorizon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-15T20:34:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-10T17:47:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Black-Panther-Killmonger-and-The-Boys-Of-Color-Who-Experience-Trauma.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"833\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta 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