Earlier today, I posted an article on Fast Willie Jackson, an Archie clone who happens to be black.

"Happens to be black" almost, but not quite, completely describes him. He's more an Archie type than a a guy who makes a big deal of being black, but the publisher's reason for doing him seems to have had more to do with his blackness than his Archie-ness. Still, he reminded me of some e-mail correspondence I had a few years ago. I wrote about it in print at the time (as I did with a fair amount of interesting Toonopedia™ e-mail), which is why I'm still able to remember details.

It started with a note from a very attitudinous gentleman demanding, not requesting, that I mention Spawn is black.

I would have, but it's irrelevant. I mentioned blackness in the articles on Luke Cage, Friday Foster and a few others because there, being black is at least part of the point (and Friday Foster wouldn't even have been worth mentioning otherwise). But Spawn just happens to be black. He could have been a Siberian dwarf, for all the impact his blackness has on the series. Since it makes no difference, I didn't mention it.

An analogy from TV would be The Jeffersons as opposed to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In the former, the protagonists' race was an issue, and the impetus for a lot of very funny goings-on. In the latter, it figured in the origin story, and was occasionally a story point, but mostly the characters just happened to be black.

Used to be, "happens to be black" was kind of a goal in media depiction of race relations. When we got to the point where a character being black elicited no comment whatsoever, it was once thought (back before we got there), then black people would have "arrived" as media characters.

And that's pretty much how it is with Spawn. I'd noticed he was black, same way I notice some people have red hair, but big deal. Everybody's gotta have some skin color, right? No major point is made of it in his series, so I didn't see any reason to make a big deal over it either. In fact, if I had, I'd have opened myself to a legitimate accusation of patronizing.

But that's not how this guy felt about it. He saw Spawn being black as "a great step for us in the comic universe", and thought I was "just typical" of White America for trying to sweep the character's blackness under the carpet. He used to admire my site, he said, but now he was just pissed off.

He didn't seem to have noticed that that Spawn's costume, which he's almost never seen without, covers every square inch of his body. If any blackness is being swept under anything, I'm not the one with the broom.

It's hard to say how I'd have responded if he'd approached me with less of a 'tude. Spoken to reasonably, I'm sometimes capable of amazing accommodation. I doubt I'd have made the changes he wanted, because I don't like to sound patronizing, but you never know.

But I'm put off by people who stretch to portray themselves as victims, then try to use their supposed victimhood to guilt-trip me into coddling them. I don't make special mention of a character being white, do I? Why are the black ones victims of my general indifference to skin color, and not the white ones?

I wrote back, patiently explaining why I hadn't done it his way and didn't plan to change it, and that if he wanted to make a big deal about it on a site belonging to him he was perfectly free to do so. But this is my site and here, we do things my way.

I added that if he wanted another reply from me, he'd have to be more polite.

But his next communication was not polite. He did, however, take the trouble to explain his people needed every instance of black skin acknowledged because there are so few in the media.

At least, I think he did. He wasn't 100% coherent about it. It was a little like when my children were very young, and would get so outraged over something that I couldn't understand a word they said. All I knew for sure was that he was very angry.

But I was pretty sure he was a @$%#!! counter. One of those fellows who, depending on orientation, can tell you either exactly how many news people are Liberals and how many are merely Fellow Travelers, or exactly what percent of a given minority constitutes a just proportion of any given company roster or character set.

Anyway, I didn't reply, on grounds of impoliteness, and that ended the conversation. I suppose he's convinced, now, that I'm an oppressor of the dark-skinned masses wherever in the world they're found. Or something.

I'm afraid I'm just going to have to live with that.

— DDM