Racism in the comic book industry isn't a new thing. Just look at DC and Marvel's starting line up. Yes, I know you're probably saying for me to lighten up like Sammy Sosa, but not until Marvel and DC darken up their roster. Now, why am I writing this article about racism in comic books? Because as a black man, it's hard to get a proper comic book movie made about the black characters I like, mainly because there aren't any. I'm a fan of Luke Cage from the 90's era. Not the jive-talking, bell bottom wearing, Jar Jar Binks, Stepin Fetch look-alike superfly that was popular in the 70's. Why anyone would think that a black urban kid can relate to such a character baffles me like Conan O' Brien's head. Let's take a close look at the "masterminds" behind this character.
Luke Cage was created by two white males, who obviously had never met a black man in real life. Cage's entire look and attitude is straight out of a blaxploitation movie. Not only was he an ex-con, but he saves people and gives them a bill for the service. The "Hero-for-Hire" concept is one of the dumbest concepts I have ever heard. All the other superheroes (you know, the white ones) do it for free, but the black man charges a fee. If I was in a burning building and Luke Cage tried to save me, I would want to go over his asking price before he threw me on his back and jumped out the window. If he was too expensive, I would wait until the fire department or Spider-Man showed up to save my black arse. Early Luke Cage was bad writing and to make matters worse, most white kids never get a chance to see a black person until they are well into there late teens. For many, it's when they go to away to college and it's usually during their mid-freshman year when they charge into their girlfriend's room unannounced only to find Bleep Beep Censored Bloop Bleep. The only white kids that have any interaction with blacks at an early age are usually the ones that have blacks as there nannies, gardeners and pool men. These kids are usually raised to believing that blacks are artificially grown in a pod on a farm for the sole purpose of serving them. This is then reinforced by the many black sidekicks in comics acting as servants to their white owners: Falcon to Captain America, Lothar to Mandrake the Magician, Ebony to The Spirit, etc. Last year, Ii befriendeda white gentleman that said he hadn't met a black man until he went to jail. Even then, he didn't interact with them much because jail is very segregated. This only solidifies the importance of comics because up until their teenage years, white children only to learn about black people through the TV, music and comic books. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that both Marvel and DC are full with people that wear white hoods on their head and looking like an ivory sheet Cobra Commander. But I wouldn't be surprised either. I'm distrustful of a lot of people and that includes old white guys that lived around the 1940's and before. And Stan "The Man" Lee is old enough to remember when his father owned a black man. So it's not surprising that his characters and countless other marvel characters wreak of exploits and stereotypes when it comes to non-white culture.
The Mandarin was a yellow man stereotype. Captain America fought against the Germans and helped promote American patriotism while preaching that all Germans were all Nazis (This is the only thing we agree on). Then, we had starks against the communist china and then later on it was the Russians. American comic books have always polarized people and abused nationalism like rormachine does to his penis on a lonely saturday night. Some of our biggest superheroes wear the god awful American flag colors on their clothing. Don't beleive me? Take a good look at Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Captain America and Superman. What's even worse than patriotism is the lack of blacks in these patriotic comics. Once again, don't believe me? Then look at the cast of Superman, Spider-Man, Daredevil and even Batman and you will see that it's whiter than a fresh batch of coke (not that I would know *sniff*).
Some people are quick to say that black comics don't sell because black can't read. While that statement might be true, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that black comics don't sell because of racism. To quote Alonzo Washington: "Most White people don't want a Black savior. Super Heroes are saviors. Unlike African Americans & other people of color who accept White super heroes as their own. Most White people think a BLACK SUPER HERO IS ONLY FOR BLACK PEOPLE AND THAT IS RACIST." They also did the same thing with Jesus and every biblical figure in The Bible. If anyone can tell me all those people who live in a desert are white, I will give them a 100 dollar bill. here's another quote from Alonzo Washington....."I also believe that most white males are closet racists - even if just subconsciously...oh, you could argue that someone reading a superhero book puts themselves in the place of the hero, and white males cannot identify with black heroes for some reason...I would venture that that reason is racism. Why are there few arabic superheroes in US comics? Why are there few hispanic blah blah blah? The answer is the same."
Some people might say: What about Black Panther and Spawn? The argument for that is simple: The characters are covered from head to toe to hide who they truly are. Anyone could be under the that costume. In fact, when Spawn was created everybody thought he was white. Don't lie, you thought he was white. I did too, and the big gimmick became that he's black. Not that it matters, cause his face looks like rotten flesh. He doesn't look black, which shows you that white people would rather take an ugly monster looking creature as their savior than a black person. The Legion of Superheroes have a bunch of characters that are monster-like and up until recently, did not have any black heroes in it. This can be parallel to Star Trek. who has all kind of monster-looking creatures on their show, just so they can avoid putting blacks on TV. My friend and I used to laugh at the fact that Captain Kirk screws every known creature in the galaxy from purple to green to blue, but never a black chick. Yes, I'm aware that Kirk and Uhura was the first interracial kiss on television. Though if you've seen the episode, you'd realize that it only happened because Parmen forced them to kiss. As if no white man would ever want to be with a black woman unless if he was forced. They tried to fix that argument in the new movie by showing Kirk drooling over Uhara. Comic books need to do something of that kind to fix the damage they have done. The best way they can do this is to make some of the more prominent characters white in the comic movie. Just another example that every industry has to hold the black man down one way or another. While I am no fan of Will Smith, I think he would be the perfect man to play Steve Rogers. After all, you did promise black people forty acres and a mule, but since you have renege on your promise, we will take Captain America instead.
Tata
The Ultimate Voice is The Truth
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