CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #151: This happened to Falcon a lot

[starwolf_oakley]

Making Falcon partners with Captain America was a good idea. Trying to discuss race relations in a superhero comic in the 1970s was also a good idea. Yet, the same thing happened to Falcon *and* Sam Wilson a lot: An African-American character would call him a "sellout" and other nasty names.

Two pages from CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #151.







So, if Falcon *was* an Uncle Tom, he *would* beat up Brother Michel?

Leila Taylor first appeared in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #139. She didn't like Sam Wilson at first because he was a social worker and she was more militant. She became Sam's girlfriend for a bit, but she hasn't been seen in a while.

Comments

[locuatico]

I think the idea is that, if Sam wanted, he COULD beat him up with little to no problem so he can stop talking about prejudice.
Sam attacks and says he was defending himself. who are authorities going to believe? the guy who hangs around with Captain America or the one who speaks about the evils of white people?

[nyadnar17]

This crap right here is probably the second most annoying thing about being black.

[his_spiffynesss]

While the term comes from the novel, the negative connotations comes from the Reconstruction Era minstrel shows (most often done by white men in blackface) who often inverted the story into either a farce or slavery apologetic. Their popularity and ubiquity in the later half of 19th century America is what shaped public opinion more so than the original work.

[reveen]

Honestly, I can't really take stuff like this seriously. Because it's a white dude in the 1970s putting opinions in the mouths of black people in his comic. It stinks of strawmanning to me, maybe there is valid cause for POC in the Marvel universe to be resentful of Falcon, maybe not. But it's not going to come through in this comic.

[lyricalswagger]

I get the feeling that Juan was kind of gay for Sam, based on this. It's just me, though, isn't it?

"Hey -- can I -- your falcon, can I hold it?"

Suuure, it's just his "falcon" you want to hold...

[locuatico]

To be fair, this is the marvel universe, were everyone is ready to crucify you just for snizzing.

[randyripoff]

'Twas the 1970's. Many comics were sold because of ham-fisted depictions of the Urban experience without any thought to nuance.

[jekylls_salvation]

Jeez, 70's. A guy can't even walk around using good grammar without being called a jive turkey.