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Thursday, July 25, 2013

White SuperHeroes--why only them?...........


Why Do All of my Superheroes Have to be White?         

By Brother Tracy Gibson…

The Green Lantern, Spiderman, Thor. Why do all my Super Heroes have to be White? I am not White and I don’t relate to White superheroes on a really deep personal level. Don’t get me wrong, as a child I loved Superman, Spiderman and the Fantastic Four as much as the rest of the mostly, male youth population of North America who supposedly were the majority of the people reading these comic books from Marvel and D.C... However, I never really on a deep and personal level, related to the lack of color on the part of my favorite superheroes.  There was always something missing…

                What was missing was a deep, personal interaction a young boy or a young teenager gets from relating on a really personal level to his superheroes. Bat Man was White Super Man was White and so was Spiderman. Because of this lack of color my psychiatric and mental connection with these superheroes could only run so deep.  While I may have gotten the thrills and chills, the deep relating was lacking.

                My theory is that this lack of identity is one reasons why Black males live outside the law so much in our culture.  Superheroes are to not only be envied, but emulated.  Who have we as Black males to emulate? What we see are thugs and criminals in Black face on TV—our images are often negative, not law abiding and courageous fighters for justice like we need to be seeing. See, we are left out of the picture and the picture of us tends to end up outside the law instead of upholding it as we should.

                Ask Farrakhan this. Ask Him why He thinks Arsinio Hall was fired after Farrakhan appeared on His show? That was way back in the 1980’s and they are still doing this. Barbara Walters put Farrakhan on her show and there didn’t seem to be a firing of Barbara Walters. This is a blatant and Real double standard.  There was another Black show and Farrakhan appeared on this show and this host was also fired.  But Horal do Rivera promises a host of gangster memorabilia in a hidden hole and we get coke bottle and he still has a job.  I am not besmirching my Latin Brother anything, but there seems to be a double standard even here.

                The Major White-Run Goliath Media has a way of working for rich White people and the Jewish Community. It has a way of leaving Black people out in the lurch. Van Jones was fired from the Obama Administration for   calling the Republicans ``Ass Holes.’’ Frankly seeing some of the Republican’s antics over the last six years, Heck, let’s go back 60 years, there is no question that they have used the hole God gave us to excrete waste to talk with instead.  Their policies have been backwards, hateful, racist, un-American, Unconstitutional, un-Patriotic and down-right nasty.  Not only towards Black and Latin people and Gays and Lesbians [forgive me Farrakhan I am Gay and will always have a place in my heart for their issues, even though I admit this community as well—the Gay community--is very racist like most Americans have learned to be]; but also Republicans have railed against the poor, the disenfranchised, the exploited, the left out, the underdog and Women and Labor as well.  These are groups that we need SuperHeroes on Screen and off, to fight for. NOT the rich White men who think they control everything and everybody including President Obama. The only group of people they—the Republicans and the Right Wing--really are fighting for is the exploiters, the rich White males, and the aristocrats.   Most of them, but not all, there are exceptions, are yesterday’s people clutching onto their money and trying to maintain power that is quickly slipping away in an ever changing world. We ALL need a termite inspection to make sure such pests are no longer host in our houses.    

                Such racist, right wing policies and politics have spread to a bastion of wealth that is not normally theirs. In taking slight hold in Hollywood, California, they have found new customers as they defend the existence of the State of Israel. . . [Read my statement on a One State Solution for Israel and the Middle East and you will find a simple Way to bring peace and stability, but one that requires great courage, not hate, regression, greed and suffering.] The lack of Black and Latin Superheroes for our young Latin and Black boys and girls to be thrilled by and enjoy is a real problem and one that will only be taken up by our own Black filmmakers.  If you haven’t seen ``Fruitvale Station,’’ go see it before it leaves your neighborhood theater.  It is crucial that we see and understand how we are oppressed and for what purposes.  The Hero of that film is a Super Hero, except He doesn’t have powers to fly and take bullets without dying.  Look for and go see Will Smith’s ``Handcock Part 2.’’  I don’t know much about how Hollywood works, but maybe Brother Smith Will give us a Handcock who is not an alcoholic, a White woman chases and a desperado this time.  Our young Black Boys especially, need this desperately.   

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