In defining the term “blerd,” the online Slang Dictionary wastes no time in citing a love of comic books and their action figures in explaining the origins of the term for a Black nerd.
Yet in light of the historic miseducation and undereducation of Black youths – both before and during the pandemic – anything that gets more of them to read and to use that as a springboard to deeper conversations has to be welcomed.
The Black Panther comic book figure introduced in 1966 – and popularized by the 2018 hit movie – has become one such Buffalo springboard. Young people and their families drawn to biweekly programs put on by the Galactic Tribe delve into the comic book as a starting point to explore the past, examine the present and to plot a successful future. Members of the tribe describe themselves as “Afrofuturists” who didn’t want to miss the chance presented by the movie.
“We didn’t want the wave to die,” said DQ Grant, executive director of the nonprofit organization that formed in the wake of the movie.
Meeting the second and fourth Saturdays of each month in the Delavan Grider Community Center, the group’s Wakanda Alliance programs focus on education as well as physical and mental health. It brings in community experts in everything from yoga to meditation and boxing as well as artists from all genres, including hosting virtual sessions with writers of the comic series.
“Any type of artist you can think of, we’ve had them,” said Anthony Pierce, the tribe’s program director.
But the effort extends beyond the arts, in which Blacks have historically been well represented. Shuri’s STEM Lab, named for Black Panther’s sister, gets kids involved in science, technology, engineering and math. The Galactic Tribe, for instance, collaborated with the Foundry, a community-based “makerspace,” to enable a group of teens to build a model house, complete with electrical circuits.
Like comics…
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