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February 19 - February 26, 2021
Creating Black superheroes with the word “Black” in their names was a way for America to once again normalize whiteness. It wasn’t “White Superman” or “White Batman” or “White Green Lantern.” Because “white” is normal. White doesn’t need to be mentioned. But “Black,” on the other hand, needs to be announced. To me, it made the superheroes sound less intimidating, less powerful, less normal than their white counterparts.
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“Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”
- Bruce Lee
America’s favorite pastime isn’t baseball. It’s telling Black people to behave . . . even when we aren’t doing anything wrong.
Where is the lie?
When art sets racism in the past, no matter how good it is, it allows white people in the audience (and others) to say to themselves, “Wow! That racism sure was bad way back then!” It’s what happens when people go see 12 Years a Slave. My response is always, “Yeah, you wanna know another time when racism was bad? Earlier today.”
The biggest thing that white people can do is really get comfortable having conversations about race and racism in this country.
Read Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Go to websites like The Root, Colorlines, Very Smart Brothas, Blavity, and also The Establishment and Indian Country Today, and read Lindy West, wherever she’s writing at currently. And support the artists, TV shows, and films that support the America that most Americans want. Don’t take any of these choices for granted.
When Democrats say they’re going to ignore Trump’s white supremacy, xenophobia, Islamophobia, ableism, and racism because they’re going to find common ground, they’re letting him dictate what the ground is.
Being able to say no is the most power you can ever have. It is either a luxury when you can afford to leave, or it is necessary for survival when the cost to stay is waaaaay too high.
