Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for “Black Panther” and is written solely off my experience with the movie (as opposed to the comics).

Before I watched “Black Panther,” I remember reading about the sheer amount of African cultural influences pulled together to create the country of Wakanda.

Actually getting to see the film was an experience. I went into that theater expecting good things, and I was not disappointed. “Black Panther” has been hailed as a cinematic and cultural icon, hopefully ushering a new wave of representation in cinema, and I personally fell in love with the visuals. I'm an artist at heart, and I kept wishing that I was allowed to take pictures of the big screen so I could later go back and use the beautiful scenery as references for paintings.

Another amazing thing about "Black Panther" was Eric Stevens, and I think part of what I love about him was how much I related to him. No, my father didn’t betray his home country and get murdered by his brother, but I am a first-generation kid growing up in the U.S.

My family’s from southwest Nigeria. I was born in Massachusetts, and my parents had my sister three years later, down here in Georgia. We’re a part of the Yoruba ethnic group, which makes up about a fifth of the Nigerian population. My grandmother doesn’t speak English, so my sister and I learned Yoruba growing up. I help my mom cook traditional dishes sometimes, I know a couple of the old creation myths and there are plenty of ankarassitting in my closet.

And yet… watching "Black Panther" made me realize just how little I know about my culture.

I mean, sure, I can speak Yoruba, but I respond in English to my mom. I cut my hair short, but that’s mostly because it’s easier to manage rather than being a nod to my culture.

And if you asked me what’s going on in Nigeria right now, all I would really be able to say without a Google search is, “The economy sucks, and the government is corrupt.”

Then you look at Eric Stevens, whose connections to “home” and the family members who betrayed him make up a huge portion of his motivations. I get that he had to learn about the people he wanted revenge on in order to really hit them where it hurts, but he still knows a heck of a lot more about Wakanda than I do about Nigeria.

It’s a combination of factors, I guess. School started taking up a huge amount of life ever since I started taking honors classes in sixth grade, and my sister and I have tried to stay away from family gossip. My grandmother isn’t really one to give stories about her childhood, though that may be the fact that I just… haven’t asked. I haven’t put in the energy to learn more. Even if I had, the Yoruba people tend to bank on the oral passage of tradition and stories, meaning there isn’t nearly as much written stuff out there as there may be in other cultures.

SEE ALSO: As A Nigerian-American, I Believe Black Panther Represents What We Need To See More In Hollywood

I feel like a good portion of it is also just living in America and growing up in the South, surrounded by, “USA! USA!” I think I spend more time away from my family than I do with them because of school, extracurriculars and friends, and it’s made me feel like I have no incentive to learn more about myself when there are so many Cool New Things out there.

I honestly am not sure what I’ll do since I’ve had this “grand revelation.” I can say that I’ll spend more effort trying to learn about my culture, but I really can’t speak for my future self. I barely know what I want to do tomorrow. Regardless, I know I’m a big portion of the change if I want to know more about my roots.