EJ is such an Inspirational guy, an amazing father of the cutest baby girl on the planet, and all-around just a phenomenal individual who is constantly speaking life and prosperity over everyone he meets. He and Jean-Si immediately became not only my friends but older brothers as well. This episode is part 2 of the conversation on Africa, Black America, and Black Panther and the importance of proper representation. This topic was something we all found important because the representation of different cultures and people on global stages such as Hollywood is important in the formation of the hero identity, the perception of self, of an individual and group of individuals. Especially our kids. Misrepresentation leads to societal imbalance and serves as a means to maintain social inequality. It is movies like Black Panther and conversations like this that break the chain of stereotyped portrayals. In this episode you’ll learn and hear us talk about:
⁃A body of research called symbolic annihilation
⁃ What about the movie captivated him
⁃The character that he identified with the most
⁃How the movie is building bridges in the black community across the world
⁃How a dream to visit the motherland has turned into a priority
⁃EJ talks about the Joys of fatherhood
⁃The importance of representation
⁃ Why you should know about the body of research and term known as Symbolic annihilation and how it further highlights the importance of representation in media
⁃ Why he doesn’t feel whole
⁃Talks a bit about his Ethiopian roots
⁃ Why as an African American he fears being judged by Africans when visits Africa
⁃Proper representation of African culture gives us a sense of pride
⁃ How he would’ve reacted if he was in Killmonger’s shoes
⁃ Why he thinks representation is a big thing
⁃The belief, aspiration, and admiration that Black panther inspired not only in people of colour but in other races as well.
⁃The nod vs the Wakanda salute
⁃Wakanda salute was important enough and well received by the black community and the world that they added into the FIFA video game.
⁃Why always shining a light on the bad is bad
⁃Why its difficult for black communities to come together
"I always said I wanted to be Ayrton Senna or Superman. Superman was my favourite being in the world because he had such good morals, saving people and strength and all the things humans wish we could have.
"But what I do remember was there was no action hero the same colour as me.
"In a lot of scenarios around the world, there is under-representation. Young kids sometimes - if you can't see it, you sometimes think it's not possible.
⁃Louis Hamilton
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