Does Superman Have To Be White? | Angel Eduardo

"All I’ve ever wanted was to be Superman. Growing up, I did what all kids do: I ran around wearing a cape, I dressed up for  Halloween, I played with the action figures, I watched the movies and TV shows. But I  also picked up on more important things.

Superman defended the innocent. He fought for justice. He stood for what was good, and right,  and true. He was an inspiration. A hero. If I was ever kind, generous, honest, or ethical, it was in no small part due to his influence. I was proud of it. And then, identity started creeping into everything. I don’t remember the first time I came across  the idea that changing Superman’s “race” could or should increase his popularity with  “people like me,” but I instantly rejected it.

Even as a kid I resented the implication that  we must physically resemble those we admire in order to identify with them, and I considered it an affront to my intellect. But the idea persists, and the most common  reason people give is “representation.”

Proponents argue that we need more characters to  reflect our diverse, multicultural America—and I fully agree. It speaks poorly of a society when  its art and media doesn't reflect the vast ethnic and cultural diversity of its people. But we  have to be careful not to operate under a shallow and tokenistic idea of diversity. Thinking  that all we need to do is change the color of Superman’s skin and we’ll have done our job  is to caricature those we’re aiming to uplift.

It comes off as lazy and lacking in creativity,  and due to its superficiality, it flies in the face of true diversity and representation—which  requires giving characters depth and nuance.

What’s more, taking this tack  also inadvertently places value on the despicable, divisive, and immiserating  fiction of race, when what we really should be doing is working towards transcending it. As James Baldwin wrote, “The value placed on the color of the skin is always and  everywhere and forever a delusion.”

This is why the idea that Superman “belongs” to people racialized as white because he is drawn that way is nonsense. And it’s why the idea  that changing the color of his skin will make him belong to so-called “people of color” more  than he already does is insulting—not only to my intellect and to yours, but also to our identities  as multifaceted and multilayered human beings.

This obsessive reification and reinforcement of race precludes us from seeing the ways in which we are already alike; the ways in which  we can already inspire and uplift one another; and the ways in which we can—and  do—connect with other people, whether they’re fictional or not. Transcendence  is the answer. Racialization is not.

There is so much to Superman as he is for anyone on Earth to relate to..." - Angel Eduardo

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