My 5 is for Chadwick: Superhero on Film and Superhero in Life
When I heard the news, I stood rooted where I was. For a few seconds I was utterly frozen. The impact over my body when I found out Chadwick Boseman had passed away was immediate, yet not unique. Felt by every person who respected and revered his work, this reaction rippled around the world. No one knew, no one had an inkling of an idea that this beacon of light, this once in a lifetime gift for not just the Black community, but anyone who respected the art of portrayal was fighting Colorectal Cancer.
I’m a little embarrassed to say that my first experience with Chadwick was when I sat down and saw Black Panther in theaters. There is nothing that gets my blood pumping like watching a truly stunning performance in a movie. Experiencing King T’Challa in all his glory was simply put, electrifying. I KNEW from the moment he spoke his first line, to the very last scene that this man was doing what he was born to do.
By living his truth and going after his dreams fervently, he elevated goals for Black children around the world. He brought to fruition what so many Black adults needed to see in their lifetime and what some of their parents and grandparents never got to. People that looked like them portrayed as superheroes, royalty, and protagonists. The gifts of that film and what it did for the culture and the Black experience are monumental and never ending. Yet Chadwick’s gift didn’t live within King T’Challa alone.
A versatile creator, his early ambitions did not center around acting. After graduating from high school in South Carolina, he enrolled in Howard University and secured a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing. He originally wanted to work behind the camera, but signed up for an acting class to better understand the actors he’d hope to one day be writing and directing for. After his mentor, Phylicia Rashad sought out Denzel Washington’s financial help to send Chadwick’s class to study at the British American Drama Academy, he settled into life in New York City. He spent his time directing, writing, and teaching drama classes to junior scholars at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Even then, before the fame came he was working to elevate Black youths.
After finding some success writing and directing for local and regional stage productions, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. In a role that would get much more attention in death, he portrayed Reggie Montgomery in All My Children. In a wild twist of fate, he was unceremoniously fired by producers for voicing concern surrounding racist stereotypes in the script and the role would be recast with his Black Panther counterpart, Michael B. Jordan. As his career gained momentum, he was always focused on taking roles that allowed for Black characters to be multifaceted and nuanced. It didn’t take long for Hollywood to take notice.
At the age of 36, Boseman was cast as the legendary Jackie Robinson in the biopic, 42. The great baseball pioneer who broke down barriers for people of color in Major League Baseball was the first of vastly different, yet important cultural icons that Chadwick Boseman would bring to life on screen. His subtle, brave portrayal of the sports icon made people pay attention quickly. Soon he was dancing on stage as the electrifying James Brown in Get on Up.
This was the role that truly stretched Boseman, where audiences around the world saw how versatile of a performer Boseman could be. He embodied the raw energy, magnetism, and stage presence that was the Godfather of Soul and brought light to the struggles of an imperfect man trying to follow his artistic path.
I could go on and on about the roles he would continue to take throughout his career. How he filled the shoes of the first ever Black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall in Marshall with poise and ease. How he delivered the supremely important lesson of forgiveness and the power it has to set us free as Stormin’ Normin in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. Or maybe I can marvel on his final role, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Where he once again used his platform to highlight the struggles of Black artists trying to get their fair share in an industry that had done mostly everything to stop that from happening.
However I choose to analyze the magnitude of his too small body of work in the short time that he lived, there is one theme that continues to ring in my head. It’s this: Chadwick Boseman lived with a profound purpose. He leaned into this purpose with vigor and joy. He was here to tell the stories that BIPOC communities needed. Through the diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer, what would’ve leveled most men, he chose to use every single ounce of strength he had to not only fight the disease, but to tell these stories that mattered. Even through his pain, he did it for us. He did it in silence.
He chose to keep this incredibly painful disease away from us. An intensely private man, only he and his family know why. However, I believe that he did so because of this purpose he had. He was Chadwick Boseman, the titan of racial representation on stage and film. If we knew that he was fighting a losing battle with cancer, would he remain that? Or would he become Chadwick Boseman, the actor who was dying from cancer?
He knew he had more work to do, he knew he had more roles to take on. Roles that would brighten the horizons for people of color everywhere and bring hope to those kids that needed to see themselves represented in him. He couldn’t get busy with comforting us throughout his diagnosis and 4-year fight. He needed to get busy with fulfilling as much purpose as he could with the time that he had. I for one am in awe of this strength and am incredibly grateful that he loved us so much to do that for us. To give us all of him, even when he was fighting to stay here.
So what can we do for him? What can we do for others who will come after him? What can we do for others who have already fallen victim to this cruel disease? We can continue searching for a cure. Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death continues to highlight not just the need for a cure to CRC, but how CRC can affect the Black community at alarming rates.
Of a predicted growth of 90–124% among Americans aged 20–34 and 28–46% among those aged 35–49 by 2030, the highest growth of early-onset CRC incidence and death is predicted to occur in Black men, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery. A special health inequities and disparities issue of the journal PLOS ONE published that Black men have the lowest five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer out of any other racial group. Part of the issue is low adherence to screening measures for early detection and lack of research to understand how to change this. That’s where 5 For The Fight comes in and our work begins.
5 For The Fight is a philanthropic answer to the resounding devastation that cancer has left in its wake. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, 5 For The Fight acts as a crowdsourcing platform that funds research towards finding a cure for cancers like CRC. By inviting everyone to donate $5, we are asking them to join a movement to put an end to our loved ones dying from this merciless disease.
A movement that directly lends itself to the advancement of research done by the Huntsman Cancer Institute and investigators like Dr. Charles R. Rogers, who as an Associate member of HCI is leading the charge on CRC and understanding its disproportionate effect on men’s health in the Black Community. Racial inequities don’t just exist in society, but also in healthcare. Dr. Rogers has committed his entire career to helping underserved and minority communities, advancing preventative care and sharing his findings all around the world.
By funding work like Dr. Rogers’ and countless other scientists, 5 For The Fight is accelerating the search for a cure and making sure the lives like Chadwick Boseman’s weren’t in vain. 1.6 million people have been diagnosed with cancer this year alone. While we mourn for all the potential, all the magic, all the gifts that so many of these people would have brought us, we know that through our work…these numbers will begin to decline.
Our commitment is this: we will work diligently to find a permanent cure to cancer and in time spread hope and enlightenment towards racial inequities in healthcare. To give more people like Chadwick time to flourish and prosper. To give more children the vision they need to aim for their wildest dreams. And to stop cancer in its tracks once and for all.
So we ask you, who is your 5 for?
Ashley Urbano is a Senior Account Executive for Qualtrics, based out of Provo, Utah and Raleigh, NC. When she isn’t helping her clients mature their Customer Experience programs, she is usually playing with her dog, singing, or doing volunteer work within the Recovery community. Fueled by a lifelong passion for the arts, she expresses herself creatively through written essays, music, and film/tv critiques. She believes fervently that change starts with the person staring back at her in the mirror and that we are all uniquely positioned to make a difference in whatever truly matter to us.
My 5 is for Chadwick — who gave children the vision they need to aim for their wildest dreams. #5ForTheFight
5 For The Fight on Medium crowdsources wisdom from those affected by cancer. Have a story to submit?
