Being a Black Captain America Fan

Every four years, the American people are faced with a series of decisions at their local rec center, elementary school, or whatever polling place they’re assigned. And the biggest one, the one that’s covered in the news 24/7, the one that drowns your phone with unsolicited robocalls, the one that causes awkward silences at the dinner table; is the presidential election. I’m not sure about y’all, but every four years I’m presented with a choice between choosing someone I can somewhat align with on some things, and someone that is the complete polar opposite to almost everything I believe in. Every four years, I have to decide between someone who mostly checks the boxes but just has that one little eenie meenie genocide that I can’t condone and a complete maniac that threatens the very fabric of our “democracy.” In between the quiet noise of scrolling my phone and being called a n*gger by accounts with American flags in their display names and the very loud noise of turning on the tv and hearing tirades about cats being eaten by immigrants; I still take the time to do things that pull me out of the muck that is American politics.

In 2012, the Jordan Olympic 6s and 7s dropped at around the same time along with the KITH Gold Medal Asics in celebration of the 2012 Olympic games in London. Around this time, the coolest black people you know owned one, two, or all three pairs of these sneakers. Even if you didn’t own them, you probably owned a good amount of olympic gear, or at least wore the red, white, and blue that summer and were considered fly. I was one of the many who camped out to get the Olympic 6s at my local Navy Exchange, and of course they ran out of my size right before I was up to buy. Thankfully, I found a pair too small for me at another store and traded with a friend to get a pair my size. Those were the first pair of J’s I bought myself, and that experience left a lasting impact on me. When I think about it, that was truly the last time I can remember being American was considered cool in the black community.

So when did it change? For me, it was the first time I heard “Make America Great Again.” As a black man, I had to ask “when was America great?” Think about it this way, whenever you ask black people about time travel, they almost never want to go back in time, they are almost always only interested in the future. The idea of a return to the past feels like a threat for us. From the announcement of the campaign slogan, the uptick in profiles on social media draped in American flags spewing hateful rhetoric seemed to grow almost exponentially. Any article covering police brutality was immediately drowned in comments with these flag waivers, encouraging the murder of unarmed people whether they’d actually committed a crime or not. Around this time, I was still into arguing with people on social media, and whenever I stumped a flag waiver, they’d hit me with ol’ reliable, the hard r. Think about it, when you run into an asshole conservative, most of the time you’ll see they have an American flag featured prominently somewhere. I think this had a large part in black people’s disillusionment with the American aesthetic. I mean, think about it, do you even remember the 2016 Rio Olympic games? I know I don’t.

I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about this tweet every day of this election cycle.

I find that the America on paper, and the America in practice are two different Americas. America on paper preaches to “hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” And that every man has a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Meanwhile America in practice continues to hold that some people are worth more than others based on what they contribute to society. America on paper (or rather the copper of the Statue of Liberty) instructs you to “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” While America in practice has a half baked presidential candidate stage spewing a made up story about immigrants stealing pets and eating them. How can a country that preaches freedom incarcerate its citizens at inequitable rates and force them into slavery in prison? How can a country that swore to promote the general welfare of its people, not have universal healthcare to ensure it? And how, with all of these contradictions, could I love this country? Because I do.

Cap and Bucky (Rick Jones of all people) taking out the trash

Recently, I saw a bunch of online memes that insinuated that if Captain America was real, he’d be vehemently racist, xenophobic, and your typical Trump supporter. This incensed me. For as long as I’ve been reading comics, I’ve been a huge fan of Captain America. One of the first comics I ever read was Ed Brubaker’s run on the Star Spangled Avenger and (embarrassingly) Liefield’s Heroes Reborn run on Cap. I spent time on my timeline defending Cap and telling people how wrong they were about him being a racist asshole (when he’s written right). One of my friends then quoted me and asked me how I, as a black man, could love Captain America.

I was stumped.

It felt like a larger question than the jokey jab that he meant it as.

TJ Combo from Killer Instinct

I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure it out because, oddly enough, in video games, comics, movies, I always go for the American character (if he isn’t the stereotypical asshole). In Street Fighter, I play Guile, in Tekken, I play Paul, in Killer Instinct, I play TJ Combo. I play every American character as long as I feel like they aren’t a negative stereotype. This realization made me drill down even further to find its origin.

Steve really needed to get in the gym but he went the juicer route.

Steve Rogers grew up a small, skinny kid in Brooklyn, New York. He knew he was a little guy, but he always made it a point to stand up for the other little guys. Steve felt he had a responsibility to help his neighbor in need, no matter their sex, race, nationality, or sexual preference. He tried to join the military multiple times but was denied for failing the physical, due to his small stature. He never gave up, and volunteered for an experimental procedure in hopes that it would give him the edge he needed to go fight the Nazis, and boy did he get more than he bargained for.

Bucky kept that thang on him forreal.

The stories about Steve and Bucky being friends before joining the army are MCU revisionist history. Personally, I don’t really mind it, I think it’s a nice touch but it was surprising to find out while reading the original run of Lee and Kirby. In the comics, Steve was already Cap and Bucky was his number one fan. Bucky was also a rambunctious, undersized kid; Steve could relate. A general at camp made the connection, and the two were inseparable until Bucky got stuck trying to disarm a rocket meant to obliterate the United States. The fallout of this incident is what sent our two heroes plummeting into the cold embrace of the arctic, where both froze and drifted apart. 

Enough with the history lesson, what about Cap’s character? When the topic hit the internet, people basically called Cap a bootlicking soldier that’d go anywhere orders sent him. This train of thought is a strong indicator of someone who hasn’t engaged with any content outside of the MCU (even though MCU Cap wasn’t with that bs either). Captain America has questioned every order he was ever given. If he disagreed with the orders, not only would he refuse, he’d then start investigating you for giving him a fugazi order. The most commonly used example is the Superhuman Registration Act during Civil War (both movie and comic).

I can always count on Wavy for some good feedback. #SensitivePapers

For the uninitiated, the Superhuman Registration Act was passed after a group of young heroes took on a group of villains near an elementary school. One of the villains, desperate to escape, self-detonated and killed 600 children in a nearby school. In the comics, Cap is approached by the then acting Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Maria Hill, and asked who would probably oppose the act and whether he could handle them in a fight. Maria assumed that Steve would just fall in line with the SHRA since his identity was already public for years. Cap immediately let her know that he would be the first to stand against the SHRA because it violated heroes’ right to privacy and felt that heroes that put their lives on the line deserved the choice. Hill responded by ordering her “Capekiller” unit to fire on Cap and bring him in. Cap jumped out of the window, commandeered a fighter pilot’s craft, reprimanded him for swearing, and had him land safely in a nearby football field. He then took the pilot out for a burger and fries to smooth it over with him.

Some of my favorite Captain America moments come from the Civil War storyline. In his personal tie in, his longtime love interest and fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Sharon Carter asked him why he wouldn’t sign the SHRA. She held that it was the rule of law, which he’d sworn to uphold. Cap responded by pointing out the law as made by politicians that were possibly in corporations’ pockets. Steve knew how corporations effect policy and how that policy affected people.

(reread that last sentence)

At the beginning of Bendis’ New Avengers (my favorite Avengers run), there’s a jailbreak at the Raft, a superhuman prison in the water outside of New York. Like fate, a few heroes were already on site; the newly outed Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Luke Cage, and Jessica Drew  (Spider-Woman). After the power went out, Spider-Man, Cap, and later Iron Man would join the fray and keep over 200 supercriminals at the Raft. Despite their efforts, 44 still escaped, and one made it all the way to the Savage Land. Upon arriving, the team discovered that there was a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. team that was enslaving mutants and forcing them to mine resources and “neutralize threats” around the globe. While the rest of the new team hesitated, Cap immediately let an “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE” rip and they all entered the fray. Or at least attempted to (I won’t spoil what actually happened).

You see Steve Rogers signed up for the military because he believes in the American Dream. He believes that this country truly is the home of the brave and the land of the free. He believes that people who lost their homes can come to this country and be accepted wholeheartedly. He believes in those at the top having accountability to the bottom.

But he isn’t naive.

The most ‘70s design for a new costume ever lol.

Many people don’t know that there’s a time where Steve Rogers quit being Captain America. Back in Captain America #176, Steve was framed for murder and being hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D. and his fellow Avengers. When Steve discovered that the president of the United States (heavily hinted to be Nixon) was behind the frame up, he hung up the tights. For a while, he tried to live as a normal civilian, but still felt a strong responsibility to his fellow man. So instead, Steve became “Nomad” a hero that followed no country, just Steve’s own personal code.

Wherever the haves are exploiting the have nots, wherever justice is being betrayed by greed, wherever the American Dream parts from reality in America (even beyonds its borders); that's where you’ll find Captain America. In the current Captain America comic run by J. Michael Straczynski (JMS), Steve is living in his mother’s old apartment in his beloved Brooklyn and learns that the landlords were about to sell her building. They figured there was more money in tearing it down, so they were going to evict all of the tenants. Rather than let these people go homeless, Steve buys the building and makes it rent controlled to ensure the underserved have a place to live. For those who aren’t able to pay rent, he gives them jobs and a roof over their heads. 

That’s the America I believe in. I believe in the nation that’s flawed but left ways for us, the people to correct just in case. I believe the Constitution is a well organized and written document with some flawed places we can and have amended, 27 times. Like Steve, I believe in the America on paper and stand wary of America in practice.

Before he left the presidency, George Washington warned of “cunning, ambitious, unprincipled men” being able “to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.” Doesn't that sound eerily familiar. When looking at the current state of the presidential elections, I personally hate one candidate and am pinching my nose in regards to the other. And yet, I am still compelled to go and vote between the two. Then there’s the possibility of voting my conscience and voting for the third party but at this point, what does that change? Also for those of you trying to guilt people that are voting their conscience with “it might as well be a vote for the other side” make me sick. When voting becomes about the “realistic” option and not the way it was intended you’ve bought in. You’ve sold out the American Dream for the profit in the two party system.

We’ve fallen so far into this two party system that it’s become people’s entire identities. You see people at the supermarket with party paraphernalia all over their cars and their person. They dress their kids up as politicians and take pictures hoping to get reposted by a campaign page. This level of obsession with politics and politicians is unnatural and a blight on the social contract we have with the government to hold them accountable. How could you hold a politician accountable when you only view them through a rose colored lens? All the time I see people turn a blind eye to political corruption because they share a party affiliation. The level of idol worship and selective hearing should be concerning for everyone.

James Baldwin in Paris

When James Baldwin left the United States, he left as a means to escape from the trials of being black in America. While he was initially excited, it was soon replaced with loneliness and longing for the familiarities of home. He attributed this feeling to his trip being more focused on leaving America and not on the destination of living in Paris. He was pained by the distance the sensual and beautiful people of Paris kept because they didn’t find him sensual and beautiful. This is a key part of why I know as much as I’d like to leave, I’d miss it here incredibly bad. Every GHOE I missed in October, or festival I’d see on somebody’s recap reel would chip away at me piece by piece. That absence of black spaces that only black Americans would open an abyss in me that I couldn’t hope to fulfill with the unfamiliar.

I still love being black American. I love coming from the people responsible for the Harlem Renaissance and most music genres. I identify with that picture of Juelz and Cam’Ron draped in various American flag apparel and accessories. I see myself in Jesse Owens at the ‘36 Olympic games shaming Hitler by just being brilliant. I’m aligned with Shirley Chisholm announcing a presidential campaign and running it with all her might to the bitter end. Through rolled eyes, I’m reminded of my home in Greensboro in every Swag Surf where the crowd is on beat. The BET Hip Hop Awards sucked this year but watching those with my friends in college are formative memories for me. I love existing in black spaces.

If you find yourself apathetic to voting for a presidential candidate this election season, I think that’s fine. You should still go out and vote for your state and local officials. Since the United States adheres to federalism, those offices retain a sizable amount of power. In reality, your state and local offices can shield you from the muck that runs down from federal politics. Your state government is currently deciding on the abortion laws and your local government elects on whether your city will have a peewee football league this year. Your daily life may not be visibly affected by federal politics, but it is absolutely determined by your local politicians.

I believe in America.

I believe in the America I’m told and not the one I’m sold.
I believe in the next person, and what they could achieve given proper opportunities and incentives.

I believe in free speech being the voice of the governed to hold the government accountable.

I believe in black America.

I believe in our love for each other. 

I believe we can put down the big font and wild title websites.

These things may make me “gullible” but I see it as being idealistic. I like believing in the idea of the American dream, despite it being extremely different in practice. I want the big ideas of equality that were penned to be held as the benchmark to who we are as Americans.The American Dream is not left up to the politicians, it’s left up to we, the people. If we want to form a “more perfect union,” we must remember our responsibility to the person next to us. We must remember that this doesn’t make us individually weak, it makes us collectively strong. And only when we collectivize and promote the American dream, can we truly, Assemble.

(I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. But I’ll leave you with these pages from Civil War, when Spider-Man was considering switching from Iron Man’s side to Cap’s).

It’s good to be back. I’ve got a lot more to share.

-E.