Was Black Panther Racist? A Surprising Answer with Dr. Sheena Howard

A Note from James:

This is why I love doing podcasts—talking to people like Dr. Sheena Howard, author of Why Wakanda Matters. Wakanda is the country where Black Panther is from, and Sheena has written extensively about comics, including work on Black Panther itself.

We talk about comics, race, and storytelling. I asked a question I was almost afraid to ask—whether the Black Panther movie was racist against other Black people—and she gave a surprising answer. We also talk about a time she was abducted in Jamaica, along with a lot of other topics.

I loved this conversation. Please listen. 

Episode Description:

James sits down with Dr. Sheena Howard—scholar, comic book writer, and Eisner Award winner—for a conversation that moves between pop culture, publishing, and personal survival.

They use Black Panther as a lens to examine how stories shape identity, how representation evolves, and why cultural narratives are often filtered through systems that weren’t built to support them. Sheena breaks down the tension between nationalism and isolationism in Wakanda, and why audiences interpret the same story in radically different ways.

The conversation also goes deeper—into how gatekeeping works in publishing today, how creators can bypass it, and why building your own audience may be the most reliable path forward.

And then there’s the story she didn’t tell for years: being abducted at 19. What happened, why she stayed silent, and what it reveals about psychology, fear, and resilience.

This episode is about storytelling—but also about control: who has it, who doesn’t, and how to take it back.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why “Black superheroes don’t sell” is a myth—and how the industry perpetuates it anyway
• The real gatekeeping mechanism in publishing today (and why audience ownership matters more than ever)
• How subtle bias shows up now—not in obvious barriers, but in shifting goalposts
• What makes a story resonate across audiences (and why Black Panther worked at scale)
• The psychology of abusive situations—and how awareness and boundaries are built over time

Timestamped Chapters:

• [03:04] A Note from James
• [03:53] Favorite Superheroes: From Captain America to Black Panther
• [04:27] Why Black Panther Connected Culturally
• [04:43] The $1.2B Question: Why So Late for Black Superheroes?
• [05:17] Luke Cage, Netflix, and the “Myth” That Black Stories Don’t Sell
• [05:39] Tyler Perry and the “Outlier” Problem
• [06:23] Pressure on Black-Led Films to Be Perfect
• [07:00] What Wakanda Represents (Uncolonized Possibility)
• [07:53] Killmonger: Anger, Oppression, and Relatability
• [08:23] MLK vs. Malcolm X Parallel in Black Panther
• [09:00] Identity Formation: African vs. African American Perspectives
• [09:47] Are Black Superheroes Designed to “Feel Safe”?
• [10:28] Gentrification, Stereotypes, and Media Influence
• [11:50] Media Isn’t “Just Entertainment”
• [12:00] Early Representation and Cultural Messaging
• [12:28] Who Created Black Panther—and Why That Matters
• [13:07] Rewriting History: What Would She Change?
• [13:49] Designing a Modern Black Superhero
• [14:47] Why a Modern Hero Might Be “Invisible”
• [15:44] Publishing Barriers and Gatekeeping Conversations
• [16:36] Social Media vs. Traditional Publishing Access
• [17:26] Building 163K Followers—and Still Not Enough
• [21:47] The Instagram Post: “I Was Abducted at 19”
• [22:11] How It Started: Cheap Tour, No Money, Bad Decision
• [23:05] The Trap: Locked House and Escalation
• [25:00] Refusal and Survival Strategy
• [26:02] Car Crash and Escape Attempt
• [27:00] W