CHADWICK BOSEMAN: A SUPER HERO GONE TOO SOON LIFE, DEATH, AFRICAN AMERICANS, AND COLON CANCER

 

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. 

 

 

THE 2020 REPUBLICAN CONVENTION: RENDERING JUDGMENT ON THE BAD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY OF DONALD J. TRUMP

If the August 24-27 Republican National Convention were a legal case and we sat as appellate judges deciding on the proceedings, our opinion might look like this:

Before Justices Jones, Walker, and Wiley. Justice Wiley delivered the opinion of the court, joined by Justice Jones. Justice Walker, joined by Justice Jones, concurred and dissented in a separate opinion:  

As with Democrats the previous week, the coronavirus pandemic  dictated an event unlike traditional American political

conventions because it wasn’t held in a big hall before thousands. Republicans weren’t as careful as Democrats had been about social distancing or wearing masks. The GOP permitted live audiences for some speeches.    

We don’t know if President Trump will get the coveted “bounce” in the polls. Even if he does, history suggests that won’t last and the presidential race will settle into stability until the debates begin at the end of September.

A Matter of Location

Unable because of the pandemic to hold their convention in the original Charlotte, North Carolina location or at a substitute venue in Jacksonville, Florida, most speakers delivered their remarks from places around Washington. They spoke from The White House, Fort McHenry in Maryland, and the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. The federal government owns Mellon Auditorium and it’s available for public use. Using The White House and Fort McHenry, however, raised legal and ethical questions about employing government property and workers for political purposes. 

Trump delivered his 71-minute acceptance speech from the White House rose garden before 1500 people, not socially distanced and mostly unmasked. Trump made clear the GOP’s strategy in the coming campaign –  falsely claim he has handled the pandemic well, attack Joe Biden on China-related trade issues, and go after Democrats over civil disturbances.

Trump delivering his speech before large crowd - mostly unmasked and not socially distanced.

Tuesday night Trump announced a pardon at the White House and participated in a naturalization ceremony there for new citizens. Critics thought using the “People’s House” in such a blatantly political way was unethical, perhaps illegal. His involvement in the naturalization ceremony seemed hypocritical in light of his immigration policies.

Convention planners paid the criticism no mind. They thumbed their noses at potential Hatch Act violations, secure in the knowledge Congress, with a Republican-controlled Senate, could do little about them. Some House members promised investigations, but probably nothing will come of them.

A Matter of Strategy

For Trump, trailing in the polls, the strategic question as putting on a show targeting the limited number of undecided voters versus one aimed at solidifying the base. For the most part, he chose the latter approach. Speakers and prepackaged segments served up red meat on abortion, guns, and the horror of black and brown hordes supposedly invading the suburbs. That decision made commentators like MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace, a former GOP

operative herself, wonder out loud if the Trump campaign feared it didn’t have its base locked down. Others speculated he was simply trying to scare his base to the polls. Few speakers offered an inclusionary vision. The messages catered to those already on the Trump train or standing at the station for boarding. 

        

A Matter of Race

The convention occurred during an uproar, including postponements of NBA, WNBA, MLB,  and NHL games by protesting players,

over the shooting by a white policeman of an unarmed black man, Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Republicans barely mentioned him (Tuesday night’s invocation being an exception).  Vice

Mike Pence

President Mike Pence used the unrest generated by the shooting for a loud call in his Wednesday night acceptance speech for “law and order.” Pence didn’t mention that the teenager accused  of killing two people in the disturbances was photographed attending a Trump rally.

Most speakers made only passing references to calls for reform in the wake of the police shootings. Instead, they heaped praise on law enforcement and painted a dark picture of life under a Biden presidency, ignoring the fact recent civil unrest occurred on Trump’s watch.

Convention planners trotted out black male speakers who proclaimed Trump isn’t a racist and that blacks who think for themselves support him. The move likely came from the view, reflected in polling, that some black men find Trump’s aggressive style appealing, meaning Republicans could peel off ballots from a few black men while black women remain the Democratic party’s most loyal voting group.

A Matter of Truth

This convention didn’t establish a new standard for honesty in Trump world. One CNN fact-checker found over 20 inaccuracies in Trump’s acceptance speech. In fact, speaker after speaker misstated facts, offered blatant inconsistencies, or told outright lies about Democrats, Biden, and the world in general. Some of the insults were particularly

Lou Holtz speaking at RNC

troubling, like former football coach Lou Holtz’s Wednesday night assertion that Biden is a Catholic “in name only” because he supports abortion rights. One Catholic priest pointed out Trump and his supporters don’t agree with or follow many other Catholic teachings.

The convention’s portrayal of Trump also suffered from a truth-telling deficit. Much said conflicted with what we’ve seen the last three and a half years. The program presented Trump as compassionate, competent in handling the pandemic, and sensitive to ordinary Americans. It resembled a play put on for the purpose of supporting a man who embodies almost nothing he is. The party described a fictional character when someone just the opposite hovered off stage waiting to speak his lines. 

Trump’s convention marked another low point in his presidential tenure. He disregarded

norms, flaunted or openly violated the law, and engaged in massive deception. It was an additional item on the long exhibit list justifying a vote for his challenger.

Justice Walker, joined by Justice Jones, concurring and dissenting:

The Republican National Convention reminds me of the principle I learned from my mother: If you can’t say something good about something or somebody, don’t say anything.