Thread by @RCallahanWaco

Reflections on grief & #WakandaForever (spoiler free):

When someone you love deeply passes, it feels that it’s the end of the story or, at least, should be. We can’t picture life w/o that person; so when they’re gone, what is life? How is this supposed to work w/o them?

It all seems wrong. The story is supposed to end here. I’m not supposed to see beyond the pages of the last chapter.

One of the hardest things in mourning is how the world keeps turning. The nerve of the sun to shine when the world ends.

People shopping, laughing, eating, living life w/ no regard to the nuclear holocaust we’re walking through.

A seven-gun solute is insufficient.

Here’s what the movie got exceptionally correct regarding ⚫️ trauma: the feeling that we’re not allowed to mourn.

The coordinated efforts to erase everything this nation forced our grandparents, parents, & us to endure; Every law passed limiting the space we are free to move about; Every slur & stereotype eagerly consumed by our ⚪️ acquaintances

The way society rushes to the rescue of ⚪️ women but ignores that 🟤 folks have been saying the same thing; The *recorded* lynchings at the hands of law enforcement that some have the audacity to relativize - we are CONSTANTLY told: “Just move on”.

“No one wants to hear what you have to say, 🟤 people - so stop talking about it. Stop complaining, stop preaching, stop singing, stop kneeling, stop wearing t-shirts, stop marching, stop teaching about it in schools, stop, Stop, STOP. Shut up. YOU DON’T GET TO MOURN.”

So the idea of taking time to expose weakness? Impossible.

This is why so many 🟤 folks don’t do therapy. Our families have taught us that society isn’t going to give us time to mourn (they’re right) & so we have to be hardened. Let the pain make you stronger. Colder.

The only hope that we have been allowed is seeing ourselves in the Israelites of the Old Testament. A people in the captivity of Egypt, waiting for our savior to come rescue us. Singing We Shall Overcome w/ no earthly idea of when.

Trading slang like secret codes to freedom only to see even our language co-opted by those outside our community.

We have never been given permission to pause, to mourn, to heal, to grow again. So when we have to face our pain, it’s truly devastating.

I felt all of this so closely while watching the movie. Yet again, Ryan Coogler & Marvel penned such a powerful love letter to 🟤 folks - taking us through this process.

Stoping to mourn is resistance. Tears are an act of worship.