“I don’t care if they like me. I didn’t come here to make friends. I don’t even care if they respect me, I know who I am. I got enough respect for myself. But I do not want them to beat me.”

                                                          Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson, 42 (2013).

    Thanks to the artificially-glamorized and special-effects-laden realm of Hollywood, it takes awhile to differentiate between a lucky ‘box-office darling’ and a true actor. From the moment I first watched that autobiographical film, however, I knew that Boseman was the latter. And as an admirer of Chadwick on and off-screen, I am one of the millions mourning now his sudden death last week from colon cancer, at the far, far too young age of 43.

When the South Carolina native graduated from Howard University in 2000, he had already authored his own stage play and was on his way to defining and creating quality characters on his own terms and always with integrity in mind. From his early TV cameos (Lincoln Heights, Third Watch, All My Children, Persons Unknown) to his independent movie debut, 2012’s The Killhole, Boseman stood out early on for his ‘everyman’ affability, charismatic screen presence and a total commitment to absorbing into his roles—-factual and otherwise. Who else could have tapped into the the inner fortitude of color-barrier ascending baseball player, Jackie Robinson, civil rights champion and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall or true-life musical legend, James Brown, all bursting with kinetic energy from the screen? Even when the framework was perceived as faulty, such as the homogenized script of 2014’s Get On Up, Chadwick still earned critical acclaim and the family’s stamp of approval for his inspired performance.

But what sealed Boseman’s fate as ‘box office icon’ was 2018’s Black Panther: not only did he invigorate the Stan Lee comic strip universe, he imbued his generation and the next with what they had never experienced before: an indisputably Black superhero. Fleshing out an earnest, yet authentic T’Challa, a humble yet noble warrior confronting a family scandal after succeeding his late father as king, Chadwick introduced children and adults of all cultures to the often-hidden truths of African resplendence and Black royalty, as well as our ancestral traditions, beauty and power. Wakanda became our lauded utopia and a reminder of where we could still arrive as a people, while also demonstrating to the world, via its grossing numbers and numerous awards, that the hunger for unambiguously Black faces, and stories, can no longer be denied.

Last year, the African-American Film Critics Association hosted a viewing party for 21 Bridges, a film Boseman both starred in and produced. His elevated stature did nothing to dim his accessibility, nor his focus on creating quality art. No one realized that his focus was also on an invisible, yet ever-looming hourglass created by a devastating colon cancer diagnosis in 2016. I’m sure the accolades he received from fans and peers, as an actor and role model, were momentary salves to his weary body and soul as he endured chemotherapy and even multiple surgeries to deliver powerful performances for seven back-to-back films. But the costs of fame—precious time away from his new marriage, family and friends—created a debt that he ultimately knew would be impossible to repay.

In a statement released after Chadwick’s passing, AAFCA’s president, Gil Robertson IV stated, “In an industry not known for celebrating and elevating Black heroes, Chadwick Boseman leaves a legacy full of them.” If his legacy also encourages another Black child to chase her dreams, a new actor to reject a stereotypical role, or causes a parent to seek an earlier cancer screening, Boseman will have already surpassed T’Challa’s heroic deeds. “I can’t never quit when the going gets hard,” he told us prophetically as James Brown in 2014’s Get On Up. “I take it and I flips it…..I live.”