Category: race

+

EC Comics’ “The Monsters!” Causes Us to Confront Ourselves

Over the past few weeks, I’ve written about a few of the stories from EC Comic’s Weird Fantasy series in relation to race. I noted how “The Green Thing” addresses the racist trope of contagion and of tainted blood, and I discussed how “Counter-Clockwise” uses positioing to place the white reader in the position of those that they discriminate against. Today, I want to … Read More EC Comics’ “The Monsters!” Causes Us to Confront Ourselves

+

Contaminated Blood in EC Comics’ “The Green Thing!”

I have always enjoyed reading EC Comics from the 1950s because William Gaines and the crew didn’t shy away from broaching topics such as antisemitism, racism, sexism, and more. Even in stories that seemingly, on the surface, seem to have nothing whatsoever to do with these issues, they expose these issues, specifically the social constructions of race. They do this in horror stories such … Read More Contaminated Blood in EC Comics’ “The Green Thing!”

+

The Internal Psychosis of Nazism in Hans Massaquoi’s “Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany”

Ian Kershaw’s The “Hitler Myth”: Image and Reality in the Third Reich, traces the image of Hitler in Germany from the failed putsch in 1923 all the way to the regime’s demise in 1945. Kershaw points out that the historical priming for a myth in an all-powerful Führer who would save the nation, dating back to the nineteenth century. While many groups ebbed and flowed … Read More The Internal Psychosis of Nazism in Hans Massaquoi’s “Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany”

“You, the white people, invented race”: Now Ask Yourself Why!

When most people think about racism and oppression they think about the oppressed. They think about individuals who live under the heel of the oppressor. They think about the atrocities that the oppressor commits. They think about the acts of resistance against the oppressor. They do this and then they label it “the Negro problem” or “the Jewish question,” placing the onus of the … Read More “You, the white people, invented race”: Now Ask Yourself Why!

+

Race in Judy Blume’s “Wifey”: Part II

Last post, I started looking at race in Judy Blume’s Wifey. Today, I want to continue that exploration by looking at the ways that characters in the novel deploy language to cover up their racism when referring to African Americans in the novel. Language becomes a thread weaving its way throughout the novel, masking, for the public, the racist attitudes behind the words. All of … Read More Race in Judy Blume’s “Wifey”: Part II