I didn't necessarily think it was pandering, it just felt like Coogler was a bit misguided. Right from the opening scene taking place in Oakland, 1992 of all places I felt that Coogler put the African-American struggle over the African struggle. Instead of praising and celebrating Wakanda's independence in a white man's world, he uses it as a vehicle for a struggle closer to his own.
Killmonger and his ideas certainly have a place in this story, but while he is dropping relatable hard-hitting Malcolm X-style quotables one after another, T'Challa has no rebuttal and only appears disillusioned and disappointed by Wakanda's history. It's here where Coogler fails to see the bigger picture and realize that the African struggle is the root of all black struggle, and that Wakanda is the Africa that was stolen centuries ago.