They’ve seen tons of Marvel movies by this point, but Black Panther will expose them to Afrocentric culture - the wardrobes, the music, not to mention an entire society that doesn’t revolve around white culture. And for a lot of white kids today, a movie like Black Panther could be their way of having their horizons broadened. I don’t think I’m unique in that regard: Pop culture is always best used as a gateway drug to other cultures and other histories. Like a lot of kids, I thought my worldview was the only one - rap music made me realize that wasn’t the case, and that I had a lot to learn. Albums like It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back broadened my perspective and made me question things I never had before. These were completely new topics for my preteen brain to digest, and because they were communicated through exciting music, I absorbed them hungrily. Public Enemy frontman Chuck D wasn’t talking about partying or some girl who broke his heart: He was rapping about poverty, drug addiction, racism, economic inequality and a corrupt judicial system. Their music opened up a whole other world for me. teaming up with Aerosmith for “Walk This Way.” After that came Public Enemy, Living Colour, De La Soul and Ice-T’s metal band Body Count.

Outside of Michael Jackson and Prince, I wasn’t exposed to a ton of black culture - until hip-hop broke through the mainstream. I grew up in the late 1980s in a small Midwestern town that was predominantly white.

Obviously, I can only speak as a white person, but as a kid, it was incredibly important for me to connect to other cultures through music and movies.

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