'It was inspiring': Hamilton kids celebrate black culture at Black Panther screening

It was more than just a movie — it was a chance to finally see themselves celebrated on the big screen. 

Thanks to thousands of dollars in crowdfunded support, a group of Hamilton youth got a private viewing of Marvel's smash hit Black Panther Sunday morning in Ancaster. It gave kids who ordinarily couldn't afford to see the film a chance to see a cultural landmark in pop/superhero cinema, which featured a predominantly black cast.

"It is my first time seeing like black superheroes," said 18-year-old Abdi Sidnoor. "I think it'll be a great idea to have more black superheroes."

Black Panther is the most recent film from the Marvel cinematic universe. Its main character, T'Challa, is an African prince who must return to his home Wakanda, to become king following the death of his father.

Wakanda is an incredibly technologically advanced African society that was never colonized, hidden from the wider world.

"It was inspiring seeing that the black youth, black people in general coming together, even though they are hiding, they came together and they fought against the evils within their country and they stood together and finally came out and tried to better the world," said 16-year-old, Adebisi Sanyaolu.

A connection 

Ann-Marie Anie is a coordinator of education programming at Empowerment Squared, the group that organized the screening.

She says some of the kids who normally like to sleep in on a Saturday were waiting outside of the doors by 7:30 a.m., as they were so excited to hop on the buses that would take them from downtown to the theatre.

"They're so thrilled to see this movie coming out and seeing people on the screen that look like them," said Anie.

"They're excited that there's a superhero who comes from Africa — which a majority of our students come from Africa, so there's that connection there and they wanted to see what he could do on the screen."

Part of the big picture

The event is was organized as part of Empowerment Squared's "Our Youth Our Future" campaign, which seeks to shine a positive light on the contributions and aspirations of young leaders in Hamilton.

The initiative consists of a number of engaging workshops and events for black youth that have been held in February and into March. All events are free and target ages 10-25.

The campaign is supported by the Violence Prevention Campaigns Initiative, under the Ontario Black Youth Action Plan.

Trevor Jaundoo, chair of board of directors of Empowerment Squared, says it was important to bring the crowd to see the film because "It's important for them to say, I can do that, it's been done."

Crowdfunding the day

The day was made possible by a long-time supporter of Empowerment Squared and president of McMaster's student union, Chukky Ibe.

Ibe started a GoFundMe campaign that raised just over $5,000.

"This movie was just too epic and too important for people not to see," said Ibe. "There were some kids in the theatre who had seen the movie twice and were seeing it for the third time and some kids who had never been to a movie before."

Ibe was at the theatre before the movie started and says the excitement was palpable. 

"It was probably one of the most beautiful things that I've seen in my life," he said.