Originally Posted by
GuiltyPleasure
Privilege is often the source of blindness. I'm unsure why that's even a point of disagreement. We all have our blind spots, which doesn't, by default, equate to our level of intelligence but is a reflection of our socialization. Do able-bodied people think about their privilege, or even view it as such, on a daily basis as to see all of the little and perhaps big ways people with disabilities are marginalized in society? Do men? White people? Heterosexuals? Native speakers? Sure, when you are in a privileged group, you may see how those outside of the group are not treated as equally or equitably as those within the group. But that doesn't mean you see or even understand it all.
It isn't unreasonable, IMO, for T'Challa not to have seen something that, one, he probably didn't want to believe about Wakandans, and two, that wasn't blatantly obvious. Now, I'm not a Coates bandwagon fan, so my posts aren't about praising him and his storytelling. But I do think he often raises legitimate social issues within the pages of BP, which clearly don't work for certain readers and BP fans, while it does for others.
There were two images that struck me that, visually, I think gets to Coates point about blinders and perspective. On the first page with Ororo and T'Challa there is an image of a staffer (that's the word T'Challa used to describe the palace workers on a later page) who was taking away his and Ororo's dinner plates. Now, go forward a few pages, and you'll see T'Challa being served a meal by a (staffer, servant, slave??) of the empire. Both actions were identical in the serving of a royal leader. So, where's the obvious difference to be found?
Without knowing the history of slavery in the US ,for example, would someone visiting the US know, much less understand, the awful foundations upon which the country was built? Or would they see the surface and not think to dig deeper for the bigger, uglier truth? Yes, T'Challa is a brilliant man, but where is the room for him not to be all knowing or seeing?