Newark, N.J., native and finest supervillain to ever grace a film screen (don’t @ me on this) Michael B. Jordan attended a special Black Panther screening for young adults on Tuesday. According to RLS media, the event was planned by Jordan himself and drew hundreds of kids from My Brother’s Keeper, the Boys and Girls Club of Newark, and his alma mater, Newark Arts High School.
The event was among the first of many special screenings of the film specifically for children and young adults, known on social media as the #BlackPantherChallenge.
At Tuesday’s showing, Jordan praised the initiative for exposing more audiences to the groundbreaking film, which opens nationwide on Friday, and spoke about the importance of attending the screening with them.
“Just being able to let these kids know that anything’s possible, you’re capable of doing anything you put your mind to ... and I’m just like them,” Jordan told WLNY-TV. “I’m from the same streets, I caught the same buses, same trains. Walked the same blocks. And if I can do it, they can do it.”
WLNY reports that the #BlackPantherChallenge has raised over $400,000 all over the country—meaning that tens of thousands of kids will be able to catch the film.