Another response to my Indian Comics Irregular essay X-Men:  All-New or Same-Old?:

>> I think the X books have probably been the frontrunner in this area. I remember a time when X-Force had 3 Latinos at one time, if you count the Brazilian Sunspot, plus Warpath. <<

I agree Sunspot was a genuinely multicultural character. But who were the other two Latinos: Rictor and Feral? Did they look or act Latino? Did they have anything marking them as Latino other than their names?

Your point is valid, although as I once wrote (Do Superheroes Reflect Society?):

>> I do remember a few issues where Feral spoke Spanish and there was some things about her childhood molestation by her mother's boyfriend. Rictor I don't think so, which was my point. <<

What's your point again? That we should give comics credit for declaring a character ethnic, even though there's no evidence of it other than a caption or two? I don't give comics credit for adding token minorities; I criticize them for it.

>> I like to have characters that are more than ethnicity, much like a corporate office where it's an afterthought not a banner to wave. <<

Ethnicity shouldn't be a banner to wave, but it shouldn't be an afterthought either. It should be a fundamental part of characters—something that influences their thoughts and actions.

Whether the influence is big or small depends on the situation. It may even be nonexistent in some situations. But it shouldn't be small or nonexistent in most situations, because that's not how people work. If something is fundamental, as I claim ethnicity is, it should have an average to big influence in many cases.

Feral was more than her ethnicity, perhaps. And Rictor was less than his ethnicity, I'd say, since it was nonexistent if you remembered correctly. Again, comics get no credit for tokenism.

The debate continues (7/28/05)....
Re Latinos in the New Mutants:

>> I don't know if it was tokenism. <<

Wasn't it? How do you define tokenism? Isn't the definition close to what you're saying: an ethnic character included just for the sake of being ethnic, even if the character has no discernible cultural traits?

>> I know plenty of people foreign born that grow up in the USA without a trace of "ethnic" behavior when among their peers. I don't think they are somehow less because of it. <<

They're not somehow less, but they're no longer multicultural. People with no trace of their ancestors' cultural heritage—which I'd say is impossible, but never mind—are the same as any fully assimilated American.

If these ethnic types no longer fit the definition of multicultural, then they're of no use in presenting a multicultural perspective. I give credit to creators who use actual multicultural characters, not "multicultural" tokens.

>> I've known plenty of american born Chinese that are as "white" in their behavior as they come. <<

I've known plenty of Asians (i.e., Chinese, Japanese, Korean) too, and they generally show traces of their cultural heritage. They generally fit the Asian stereotype, at least to some degree. They're more academically oriented, more respectful of their parents, less inclined to speak or act out, less wild or uninhibited, etc.

>> I don't think they are either tokens or "uncle toms", just being themselves. <<

If you include them in the mix for the sake of representing diversity, then yes, they are tokens. If you include them randomly, for no particular reason, then no, they're not.

Another correspondent chimes in (7/29/05)
A comment from correspondent Ron Fattoruso, who asked what I'd said about Latinos in the New Mutants:

>> I said Sunspot was a good multicultural character but Feral and Rictor were more like tokens. <<

I agree.

After a while, Rictor looked like any other long-haired white boy. He could've passed for Gambit's brother the way he was drawn.

I think a lot of writers think that they can pepper a characters dialogue with random ethnic terms and phrases and that makes them multicultural. Hell, the only thing multicultural about Feral was her real name (which I am forgetting now), and that's it.

- R

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