thehighpriestofreverseracism:

lifetimeinafist:

saturnineaqua:

futureblackwakandan:

kingmaktub:

thehighpriestofreverseracism:

Things you may not know about the legendary South African actor John Kani, who play’s T’challa’s Father/King T’chaka in Black Panther.

He lost his left eye to a beating he received from Apartheid Police and wears a glass prosthetic eye.

in the mid 1980′s, he performed in a play called “Miss Julie in Cape Town” Half of the audience walked out of the production when he kissed a white woman on stage – an act that resulted in death threats and an assassination attempt, in which he was stabbed 11 times.

in 1985, he lost his brother who was killed whilst reading a poem at a funeral when Apartheid police started shooting up at the mourners.

all of this happened in a minority ruled white supremacist country formed ON land where his people where the natives and the majority, apartheid “ended” in 1994.

sources:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/dominic-cavendish/4589941/The-Tempest-How-a-legend-of-African-theatre-was-stabbed-11-times.html

http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/bonisile-john-kani

https://www.gauteng.net/pages/page/john_kani

History for yo ass

I kinda thought he had a prosthetic eye when I was looking at him in BP but didn’t want to assume

Also like to add that the man that played the younger T’chaka in Black Panther IS HIS SON!  Atandwa Kani!!!

He was also a founding member of the Market Theatre: the company that pioneered protest theatre and played a HUGE role in raising international awareness of Apartheid.  When he won the Tony for Best Actor in The Island/Sizwe Bansi is Dead (which he helped write, btw), he was immediately arrested upon returning to South Africa.  He’s STILL one of the best Othello’s EVER. He’s still on the board of The Market today and has become a brilliant playwright in his own right in recent years. As a South African, I am fucking THRILLED to see him get the global recognition he so richly deserves.

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