The August 28 death of actor Chadwick Boseman saddened the nation and the entertainment world and conjured up images of his groundbreaking role as Black Panther in one of
the highest grossing films in the United States of 2018. Boseman’s death from colon cancer at 43 also provided a useful, if
grim, reminder of the impact of the disease on African Americans and the need
for effective counter measures in that population.
Boseman notoriously guarded his privacy, so he never told the
world he’d been diagnosed with the disease in 2016. He kept acting, enjoying
his Black Panther success while
undergoing treatment.
A Short, Spectacular
Career
Boseman grew up in Anderson, South Carolina, the son of a nurse and a textile
worker. He earned a fine arts degree from
Howard University in 2000 and began a career focused
on writing and directing. He only started studying acting because he hoped
doing so would give him a better understanding of actors in his directing work.
Though he kept writing plays, Boseman soon found success as an actor in
television, beginning in 2003 with appearances in Third Watch
and later in Law and Order, CSI:NY, and ER.
Boseman made his real mark in movies.
In 2013, he played Jackie Robinson in 42, a movie that grossed $97 million against a
budget of
$40 million. Ironically, Boseman died on Jackie Robinson Day, the major league baseball players wear
Robinson’s No. 42. A year
after 42 Boseman portrayed legendary
soul singer James Brown in Get on Up. Boseman in 2017
played a young Thurgood Marshall trying a rape case in Connecticut, long before Marshall became the nation’s first black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Then came Boseman’s biggest moment.
The Cultural Phenomenon
of Black Panther
It’s difficult to overestimate the impact of Boseman’s work
in Black Panther. Our March 8, 2018, post recorded our reactions to the film,
reactions that demonstrated our individual approaches to entertainment,
cultural phenomena, and racial issues. Woodson juxtaposed the film’s “confident
and competent” depiction of people of color with the harsh portrayal presented
by the current President of the United States. Rob viewed the picture in the
context of other action movie franchises. Henry, a long time Super Hero fan, discovered a
movie that forged a spiritual connection with a world he’d longed for, but
wasn’t sure he’d ever inhabit.
In tribute to the actor, Henry wrote, “I found immensely
satisfying seeing a movie, in a genre in which I’ve reveled so long, depict a
world that left no question of my own humanity and celebrated the notion people
of African descent can be, and are, good or bad, human or inhuman, smart or
not-so-smart, wise or unwise, compassionate or cruel.” He continued, “Black Panther brought alive my own spirit and helped maintain a
faith in humanity that’s been challenged in the last few years.”
For African Americans like Henry, who have worshiped in the
Super Hero movie world for years, Bozeman’s performance provided hope. Death, rebirth, and courage brought
the mythical hero to the hearts of people longing for a symbol rising above the
reality of past bondage and continued oppression. Boseman, in the Black Panther role and in his portrayals
of famous men, important men like Robinson, Brown, and
Marshall, showed America people
of color who altered history. They changed
whispers to roars and helped move myth to reality. In tribute, Woodson
observed, “Chadwick Boseman’s life and death expressed the urgency of now –
embracing life’s calling and pursuing it to the end.”
As one of Henry’s grandchildren expressed it, “Black Panther
is the baddest Super Hero ever.” In spite of Boseman’s enormous achievements by
age 43, one can only imagine what his contributions might have been had he
lived a normal life expectancy. Perhaps the fitting thing we should say now is,
“Chadwick Boseman, forever.”
A Dark Side and a
Reality Check
Boseman’s life has been celebrated by celebrities and
ordinary people for good reason. His death, however, conjured up harsh
realities the nation ignores at its peril. He died of colon cancer as a young
man. That fact creates a sobering circumstance that requires closer
examination.
Blacks suffer from colon cancer at significantly
higher rates
than other racial groups. Black men are 24 % more likely to develop colon cancer than whites, with black
women stricken 19% more often than whites. African Americans have a 15-20%
higher death rate from colon cancer than whites.
The explanations don’t differ much
from the
explanations for other health disparities between the races – diet,
obesity, lack of screening, lack of access to health care generally.
Significantly, blacks develop the disease at younger ages than whites. Many
doctors now suggest blacks get screened for colon cancer at 45, instead of 50,
the age now normally recommended for such tests.
Even that might not have changed the outcome for Chadwick
Boseman. He was 39 at the time of his diagnosis. A lower initial screening age
might not have caught his disease early enough to have started treatment that
would have extended his life beyond the 43 years he got. Outliers often exist
and he apparently was one. Still, Boseman’s case, and his tragic death, remind
the nation generally, and the African American population specifically, of the
need for early testing and overall vigilance about a disease that can create such
havoc.
Getting an early colon cancer screening is something we whole
heartedly recommend.
