Brightest Day and Racism

[kingrockwell]

Brightest Day #1 is out this week, and while the jokes have already been made about the White Power rings supposedly shipped with it, the book itself displays some very troubling racial politics.

This is about four pages out of thirty.
Writers are Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi.
These scenes are, I think, penciled by Ivan Reis and Patrick Gleason (they don't really credit any of the beats individually).

The second beat picks up off the coast of Somalia, where Deadman's found himself on a boat of slavers herding abducted children. But let's take a look here.


Now isn't that nice? The slavers are all black while every one of their captives is white. What is that supposed to say?
The children are saved by the mighty-whitey team of Aquaman and Mera, as has been posted already, but a scene from the aftermath is also worth examining.


Can you guess who this guy is?


If you hadn't figured it out yet, this guy returns to the ocean to resume his criminal career as Black Manta at the end of the issue. Now, the Aquaman/Black Manta relationship is problematic on its own, but Black Manta's history only makes it moreso (especially given that he doesn't even get a real name). Bringing him back in a book called Brightest Day that already has a mark against it is just...inadvisable.

Also, note the black woman among the victims. So far, if you're black in this comic, you can only be a villain or a victim. And what if you try to be a hero?

Well, dear readers, that's where Jason Rusch comes in.
If you'll recall, in Brightest Day #0, Jason tried punching Ronnie Raymond (who's apparently a complete tool now, thanks Geoff Johns!), only to have the two of them merge into Firestorm.
I don't even have to tell you which one's the floating head.


"Someone like you"? And just what is that supposed to mean, Ronnie?


So, Jason's not only had his role stolen by the white guy who used to have it (which is already a disturbing trend throughout the DCU, especially in Johns' work, as Chris Sims at Comics Alliance has also observed), but now he's trapped in that guy's head? Classy!

Any one of these would be problematic in itself, but all three together in the same issue adds up to a tone deaf and racist mess. A kick-off like this does not bode well for where Brightest Day is going.

Ookay, technically there was one black guy who got to be the hero in BD 1.
...The guy in the Colgate ad. He aced it!

Comments

[zemo]

That's stretching things a bit, I think...

I mean, Somalian pirates ARE black, it's the truth. They aren't pirates because they're black, but they're surely black while being pirates.

Also, your logic is a bit faulty here. On the one hand you complain that the children are all white, and on the other you complain that in this book, the blacks are either villains, or victims. So is it BAD now that the victims of the pirates are all white? Or is it good? @_@

Can't say anything about Black Manta, but if he's always been black, the writer can't really do anything about that.

Oh yeah, and the whole Firestorm thing: Classical version being supported over the new version, happens all the time in DC. Green Arrow comes to mind.

So yeah, no problem with pointing out racism where it's due, but we don't really have to force it onto things.

[punishermax]

It's bad because the "Evil brown skinned man" is standing over the "pure innocent white children" and threatening to rape them. It's might not be intentional but the implication raises a shit load of flags.

[zordboy]

But if the children were more differently coloured, then it'd also be "the victims there are ethnic minorities!"

So it's a case of, no matter what option they would've taken, it would've been something complaint-worthy.

[kaileighblue]

What would make the situation more tolerable?

[psychopathicus_rex]

If you take away the 'brown skinned' and 'white' from that, though, you still get a situation that is plenty nasty all on its own. The man is a SLAVER who is hauling these small children away to a life of slavery, and he is planning to rape one of them. Certainly at that point it doesn't MATTER what color their respective skins are? If I run across someone who's kidnapped a small child and is about to rape her, I say that's an EVIL sumbitch, regardless of whether he's white, black, or aquamarine - or a 'he', for that matter. I mean, if the kid were black or asian, would that make the situation more acceptable somehow?

[kaileighblue]

Yeah this is my question. He's a bastard regardless of what color he is or they are. If they made him white and the kids black there's be shit over that. If they made the kids all races, it wouldn't make a lot of sense. If they kids were black, he'd still be black and that would be racist.

Really I think the only problem here is that he's black. The children could be purple, the only thing that matters is that the bad guy is black. Having black guy be the bad guy is racist.*

(*From the point of view I think some people have)

[psychopathicus_rex]

Which is a terrible shame, I think, because that too, in a sense, is racist. Hell, ANYONE can be evil. In that sense, evil is colorblind, as is good. I'm talking in real life terms, here, as well as comics - some of the most evil, ruthless bastards in history have been black. Look at Idi Amin. Look at the slaughter in Rwanda. Look at those psycho militia guys in Sudan who are raping and pillaging like mad. Hell, look at Mugabe in Zimbabwe, who is bleeding his country dry and ruthlessly exploiting his own people, and who has largely done this by exploiting racial and colonial issues, blaming everything that goes wrong in the country as the fault of the whites and the British. Does this mean that all black people are evil? Of course not. Does it mean that black people can be just as evil as white, asian, or any other people? Hell YES, it does. If ALL of your villains are black, then yeah, something's wrong, but otherwise, I don't see how it matters what skin color your villain has. It's a shame that the only acceptable situation these days seems to be black VS black or white VS white, or sometimes good black VS evil white, but virtually NEVER the other way 'round.

[kaileighblue]

As an artist and a comic writer that's the kind of sentiment that makes me insane. In main main cast I have several races, just not black. So by this definition I can't have a black "villain." I'm working on a scene now with multiple people robbing a store and I'm wondering how I should cast the robbers. Just like a grab bag of races to not insult someone?

Hell I'm already racist for not having a black main I guess I shouldn't give a crap. Despite having Wampanoag(Native American), Hispanic, and Japanese cast members.

[thebigapricot]

Can't say anything about Black Manta, but if he's always been black, the writer can't really do anything about that.

No. But the writer probably could have chosen not to introduce him as a tall bald black man going ape shit crazy with big knife and killing his customers. But he slaughters both whites and blacks, so it's probably okay.

Oh yeah, and the whole Firestorm thing: Classical version being supported over the new version, happens all the time in DC. Green Arrow comes to mind.
Ryan Choi, Connor Hawke, Cass Cain. Happens all the time.

[intertobamf]

Cassandra Cain wasn't a case of the classical version of the character overtaking the newer version, though.

They had her go crazy, backpedaled on that, and then replaced her with a blond girl.

[thebigapricot]

Cassandra Cain was originally going to be replaced by Barbara Gordon as part of Dan DiDio's focus on having the most "iconic" version of characters. Somewhere along the line the plan to put Babs back in the tights fell apart and they ended up going with Steph since the book had already been announced and was already behind schedule.

[intertobamf]

Is there any source for this assertion?

[thebigapricot]

From DC Nation 9/16/2009
Choosing the new Batgirl was not an easy decision, and strong arguments could be made for most of them. At one point we were sure it would be Barbara (she was as close to being Batgirl again as Nightwing was being dead) but after long discussions it was agreed that Oracle had become such a strong character, there was no sense going back.

Given they had canceled BoP and given Babs a mini with "Cure" in the title also supports this.

[afghanant.wordpress.com]

Classic aka White.

[kingrockwell]

The problem isn't addressed by the fact that some of the villains or victims are also white, the problem is that, if you're black and in this issue, you're not allowed to be anything else.

[snugglebitch]

I mean, Somalian pirates ARE black, it's the truth. They aren't pirates because they're black, but they're surely black while being pirates.

Somali pirates aren't slavers, and they've very rarely harmed prisoners. They actually tend to treat their hostages very well, because they know it's much more likely they'll avoid police or military intervention and get their ransom money that way.

So, yeah, portraying them in this way is completely off-base, and deserves to be called out. I mean, this scene practically comes right out of Birth of a Nation; it's fucking racist as hell.

[nezchan]

Hmm. So something as simple as the others having a negative reaction to him wanting to take the child away probably would have changed the whole (forgive me) face of the scene then.

[kashmirkong]

Except that Somali pirates ARE slavers. http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/839124/-/pwwr7qz/-/

[valtyr]

I mean, Somalian pirates ARE black, it's the truth. They aren't pirates because they're black, but they're surely black while being pirates.

But the scary violent black man - especially ones sexually threatening white girls - is a nasty racist trope. It didn't have to be here. It didn't have to be Somalian pirates in the story, it didn't have to be kids they had captive, they didn't have to be paedophiles, the kids didn't all have to be white.

Classical version being supported over the new version, happens all the time in DC. Green Arrow comes to mind.

Yes, and that results in a much whiter line-up, which is a problem. Did you read the linked article on that topic?

(frozen)

[zemo]

I did read the article. Funnily enough, in my opinion, going with the iconic characters over the newer ones, which happens to cause a shift from coloured to white heroes, is only a business decision.

Now, saying that the biproduct of more white heroes over coloured ones is something bad, THAT is racist. Because while DC is all about the business and the money in this, those people say a character being white is something bad. I get that people like the one that wrote the article mean it's bad to replace a coloured character with a white one. But it's THEM that make an issue about race in this, even though race never factored into the decision making. So it's THEM being racist, although against white people. :3

(frozen)

[valtyr]

Now, saying that the biproduct of more white heroes over coloured ones is something bad, THAT is racist.

What the fuck is wrong with you?

Saying "Why are all the superheroes white?" is not fucking racist, you tool. In a world where people of colour are systematically marginalized and erased, calling attention to the elimination of characters of colour is not fucking racist. Why the fuck do you think it is okay to get rid of all the characters of colour as a 'business decision'?

Would you support a book where, say, Guy, Kyle and Hal beat up Jon Stewart, called him racial epithets, and threw him out of the Corps for being black if it sold well? Is racism okay if it makes you money?

coloured

The fuck?

(frozen) What the hyell?

[jazzypom]

Man, there is so much fail in this comment right now, I don't know where to begin.

Jeez, just what?

What sort of reasoning is this - just... what?

I need to stop coming to this comm.

(frozen) Mod Note

[angelophile]

THREAD FREEZE: this thread has been frozen and is being discussed by the mod team.

(frozen) Mod note: Suspension

[kingrockwell]

You're starting from a fundamental misunderstanding of racism and using that to inform very deeply problematic views and cast unwarranted aspersions on anti-racist efforts throughout this thread. This is unacceptable.

When you join this community you agree to a certain standard of behavior and to abide by the community ethos.

The community ethos includes calling out of racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia and other oppressive behavior. That is the members' right and your misrepresentation of the position of many members, unfair characterization of those discussing privilege and repeated derailing of anti-oppression posts is unacceptable.

We request you read through the community ethos again, as well as Racism 101, and if you feel you are uncomfortable following these, suggest that you and the community are not a good match.

For now, we are giving you a two week suspension to allow you to consider your position.

[halialkers]

The problem is that these are more kidnappers for ransom. Human trafficking is really not economically viable for them, and in fact the *destination* of many victims of the trade are Western Europe and the United States.