Comic Book Crime: Truth, Justice, and the American Way

8. “Aren’t There Any Brown People in This World?”: Race, Ethinicity, and Crime Fighting

169 8 “AREN’T THERE ANY BROWN PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD?” RACE, ETHNICITY, AND CRIME FIGHTING In the medium of comics, in which graphic representations communicate ideas, the identity marker of race has often been stereotypical and problematic . Although racial identities intersect with other identities such as gender and sexual orientation, a separate treatment of race as it plays out in criminal justice themes yields important information about messages of racial identity that contemporary comic books impart. Racial identity is not static in its depiction in comic books; rather, there is a plethora of constructions that sometimes privilege certain racial identities over others. As scholar Marc Singer explains, “Race in contemporary comic books is anything but simplistic . If some titles reveal deceptively soothing stereotypes lurking behind their veneers of diversity, then others show complex considerations of identity.”1 Though latter-day writers speak of their work as multiracial and diverse, contemporary comics are not immune to stereotyping. Some feature token minority characters, or minority characters with bit supporting roles that, in effect, play into racial clichés. Still, it is important to note that a select few comics, most independently published, have been able to portray minorities in American society and to do so more thoughtfully.2 Our focus in this chapter centers on the intersection between race/ ethnicity and crime fighting, acknowledging that crime fighting is performed within a heteronormative context that privileges the white, male, “Aren’t There Any Brown People in This World?” 170 patriarchal perspective. We interrogate how comic books, as one facet of popular culture, further reinforce the notion of heroism as embodied by white males. In particular, we consider notable heroic black, Asian, Latino, and Native American characters. The current racial and ethnic diversity found in comic books may indicate that the medium is transitioning from the white world of ages past into one with a globalized cast of characters, but we find that this transition is far from complete. Viewing the books with a critical eye toward race reveals much about how they reflect and shape larger cultural notions of what kind of person is considered heroic in American society. Racial Identity and Criminal Justice: The Criminalblackman Critical criminologists have long emphasized the role of racial and ethnic identity in struggles for power and authority in criminal justice.3 Some have called for redressing historical power imbalances between white Americans and minorities through more diverse imaginings of people in popular culture. Criminologists have examined both the quantity and the quality of minorities represented in both fictional and nonfictional media. Studies have consistently shown that the news media tend to reinforce the perception of minorities, particularly blacks, as criminal, while underrepresenting them as upstanding citizens.4 There are few representations of heroic minorities, leaving the impression that when minorities are represented in media, they are to be feared. As criminologist Delores Jones-Brown has argued, the history of representations of blacks as criminals in the media has led to individual blacks being treated as “symbolic assailants” in the real world, regardless of their actual behavior.5 Similarly, critical race theorist Katheryn Russell-Brown notes that although positive portrayals of persons of color exist in the media, these are often coupled with subtle images of black deviance.6 Fictional black characters that have made positive achievements, for example, are often “reformed,” ex-cons, or “rehabilitated stick up” kids.7 In related research, Dana Mastro and Amanda Robinson found that the presence of blacks on prime time television shows has increased, though this did not necessarily correspond to an increase in the quality of the portrayal. Minorities were “Aren’t There Any Brown People in This World?” 171 underrepresented as criminals and overrepresented as police officers; yet when portrayed as criminals, minorities were more “problematic” than their white counterparts.8 The stereotypical black male has been problematized in popular culture as a symbol of being “too male, too physical, too bodily.”9 bell hooks describes the development of black hypermasculine identities as a cultural adaptation to social conditions in the U.S. South, where white supremacist rhetoric feminized and dehumanized black men.10 Coupled with structural inequalities, the legitimate avenues of economic and social success for black men being in the realms of sports and music caused black men to seek control over their lives through physical strength and sex appeal— forced to use their bodies to achieve success rather than their minds. This...