Man this one is a tough blow.
An artist is at his best when he inspires. And when you keep being given roles like Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, Jackie Robinson, and T’Challa... you know you’ve got hero material.
He knew he had something to give the world, just like the heroes he portrayed. And I’ll never forget the February night he gave us the sight of dashikis and Maasai shawls flooding the AMC lobby. He gave us three rows in the front standing and swaying to Kendrick & SZA during the credits. He gave us an obligatory X-ing of the wrists that went on for weeks after. He gave me the playlist to train for my second half marathon, but more importantly, he gave countless Black kiddos their first big screen superhero that looked like them.
Somewhere in my imagination, we discover all the bad things in 2020 come to an end when portals open up in the sky, and this is the first face that greets us.
Chadwick Boseman