Question about Hal Jordan and racism

[UK_Stu]

Hal isn't Racist and never has been. You should read the whole comic artistsean, so you don't take this particular excerpt out of context as you have done. This story wasn't looking at race issues but social issues as a whole in the US and what superheroes did to address them. GL and GA were used to respresent the establishment and the anti-establishment respectively.

I wouldn't take what has been written on wikipdeia as gospol, you know where these articles come from. If you buy the TPB which includes this story you'll get the whole story straight from Denny O'Neil in the introduction. He explains this much better

 

[BrianWilly]

O’Neil exaggerated a lot of characteristics of both characters, so he could pigeonhole them into easily-identified radical right-wing vs radical left-wing prototypes.

I've read a few of those issues; Ollie didn't come off much better than Hal did.

The only actual racism that you could accuse Hal of in that arc was the fact that he was too busy saving the galaxy to pay much attention to racial issues at home.

 

[November Rain]

i'm seeing jordan in a new light and it isn't a green one...

 

[BrianWilly]

Well, if that's all it takes...

 

[Varient]

I haven't seen the rest of this comic, and I thought I heard somewhere, but was Hal Jordan suppossed to be sort of racist or something?
Or was it just showing that he didn't tackle real world problems?

An Opinion:

Hal Jordan was never a racist,.. he was just Unaware and seriously raised in ignorance.

Green Arrow took him on a road trip that "woke him up",.. John Stewart`brought some of his poor assumptions up and rubbed his face in them.

Katma Tu Beat some tolerance into him and "Pie-Face" let him know that his preconcieved notions of "humans" from outside the "white race" were at least insulting, at worse borderline racist.

But racist? No.

 

[LanternFan]

Nope and no.

Nighthawk is a friggin racist. Not Hal Jordan.

Have there ever actually been any racist DC superheroes?

Now I could see Guy Gardner spouting some racist crap, but not Hal.

 

[Varient]

Nope and no.

Nighthawk is a friggin racist. Not Hal Jordan.

Have there ever actually been any racist DC superheroes?

Now I could see Guy Gardner spouting some racist crap, but not Hal.

There was a DC racist character called Nighthawk?

 

[Kebab gud]

dont know if hes rasist .. but there IS a DC character called Nighthawk..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawk_(DC_Comics)

 

[LanternFan]

Sorry. I was refering to the current Nighthawk in Squadron Supreme and Supreme Power.

I know he's marvel, but I couldn't think of any other racist characters of the top of my head. I know Shadowhawk had a guy who went around immitating him & killing black people, but that was like 10 years ago.

 

[The_Mystery]

The new Ant-man is probably a racist. Man, that guy really lives up to the title of his book.

 

[Varient]

Sorry. I was refering to the current Nighthawk in Squadron Supreme and Supreme Power.

I know he's marvel, but I couldn't think of any other racist characters of the top of my head. I know Shadowhawk had a guy who went around immitating him & killing black people, but that was like 10 years ago.

Hmph.

That NightHawk is currently in the middle of being healed and redeemed.

He already has it on record that he doesn't hate all white people, Just the ones that see nothing wrong with preying on minorities.

With the help of Hyperion and the Whizzer,... he currently is starting to "trust" individual white folk and if they don't another LCE he may just become what the character was supposed to be originally,... a Marvel version of Batman.

Only time will tell.

 

[LanternFan]

Well that's good. Just so long as he keeps his crime fighting nice & brutal.
I like Nighthawk but Doc Spectrum is cooler.

 

[Artistsean]

Hal isn't Racist and never has been. You should read the whole comic artistsean, so you don't take this particular excerpt out of context as you have done. This story wasn't looking at race issues but social issues as a whole in the US and what superheroes did to address them. GL and GA were used to respresent the establishment and the anti-establishment respectively.

I wouldn't take what has been written on wikipdeia as gospol, you know where these articles come from. If you buy the TPB which includes this story you'll get the whole story straight from Denny O'Neil in the introduction. He explains this much better

O’Neil exaggerated a lot of characteristics of both characters, so he could pigeonhole them into easily-identified radical right-wing vs radical left-wing prototypes.

I've read a few of those issues; Ollie didn't come off much better than Hal did.

The only actual racism that you could accuse Hal of in that arc was the fact that he was too busy saving the galaxy to pay much attention to racial issues at home.

An Opinion:

Hal Jordan was never a racist,.. he was just Unaware and seriously raised in ignorance.

Green Arrow took him on a road trip that "woke him up",.. John Stewart`brought some of his poor assumptions up and rubbed his face in them.

Katma Tu Beat some tolerance into him and "Pie-Face" let him know that his preconcieved notions of "humans" from outside the "white race" were at least insulting, at worse borderline racist.

But racist? No.

I agree with you guys.

I did't want Hal to be a racist either, and I don't think he is now. Thats why I was asking somone to let me know, because I havent read those books. I wanted someone who might have read the books to let me know what it was about.
I just remember hearing on a documentry the words "Hal Jordan" and "racist space cop". Then I saw these pictures, but haven't read the books, and I knew Neil Adams and the series tried to do social issues.

I posted earlier, might have changed it to the jon stewart post, but I posted earlier that I think they made Hal see how close minded he had been. Buty I guess they also showed how close minded Green Arrow had been too.
And I agree, he may not have been a real racist, but Jon Stewart brought up issues Hal had and rubbed it in his face. Showed him how wrong he weas, made him change as a person. Now they are good friends, closest GLs I heard.

DC wouldn't make a huge hero like Hal a racist, I thought they might have made him realize some missconceptions and wrong feelings that he didn't even know he had, and then had him change ove time.
But not really racist.

 

[sinewave]

Nope and no.

Nighthawk is a friggin racist. Not Hal Jordan.

Have there ever actually been any racist DC superheroes?

Now I could see Guy Gardner spouting some racist crap, but not Hal.

"Rebel" is a racist supervillain. He was in the first issue of Justice Society of America that just came out.

 

[sinewave]

There are a lot of things wrong with Hal Jordan. Racism is one of them.

big surprise. someone brings up hal and leaguer pops in to predictably bash him. what a pathetic one-trick pony.

 

[WompuM]

Now, I dont know about Hal beign racist but you KNOW Guy Gardner had a confederate flag in the back window of his chevy in high school. You just know it.

 

[The Leaguer]

big surprise. someone brings up hal and leaguer pops in to predictably bash him. what a pathetic one-trick pony.

Big surprise. I post and tears just start gushing out of sinewave's eyes. What a whiney, obsessive little girl.

 

[Aristotle]

Ask not what Green Lantern can do for you, but what you can do for Green Lantern.

Quite, quite. Sweet avatar, by the way.

 

[Aristotle]

Dude he was talking about real world problems, they just used a black guy to help the point to be made. If he was talking about black people, that would be bull****, Hal has helped people of all colors from earth on many occasions. Plus Hal and John are probably the closest out of all the Earth Green Lanterns, whom are all white.

Well, no, I think he was making the point that GL, and most of the superheroic community, have a sort of institutional racism that finds them often helping the people who need the least amount of help, and not always noticing the problems that really matter to everyday joes.

 

[Aristotle]

You're cool, he tries to be cool.

It strikes me that people so concerned about making judgments on coolness are in no position to be doing so.

 

[sinewave]

Big surprise. I post and tears just start gushing out of sinewave's eyes. What a whiney, obsessive little girl.

Nah, no tears. I'm just sick of your tired gimmick.

 

[Canadian Rider]

Hal Jordan was not a racist. He was not one before or during Dennis O'Neill's run.

This single frame as indicated was an attempt to point out the foibles of the Superhero.

At the time (cultural reference is important for any writing) there were SEVERE racial issues in America. This was an attempt to bring those to light in the context of a comic and show that Heros were depicted in various ways.

Hal (Galatic tool of the Oans) was the Guardian of his sector and thus was always flying around helping others. This was an attempt by Dennis to show that Hal wasn't doing anything against Racism on earth, especially America. This was meant to show the larger problem of racism in that few heroes of the time were standing up for "black-skins" or any other group that was suffering from oppression.

This series with Green Arrow were some of the finest work by any writer to try and use comics to address the issues of the day - including drug abuse. While this was heavy handed, I think it raised some awareness of the situation, while transcending the DCU worldview of sunny and bright so well characterized by Metropolis and Superman.

Hal was not happy with the selection of John stewart because of his attitude, not his skin tone. He has always regarded John as a friend and a close friend at that.

The problem with any statement / scan as indicated is taking it out of the larger context as well as not considering the cultural significance of the times when it was first publisher/written.

While Leaguer may have issues with Hal Jordan, there are a considerable number of people who thought he was a great character ... up until he was "turned" into a homicidal maniac who went against everything they built him up to.

Hope that helps ... :gl:

 

[sinewave]

Hal Jordan was not a racist. He was not one before or during Dennis O'Neill's run.

This single frame as indicated was an attempt to point out the foibles of the Superhero.

At the time (cultural reference is important for any writing) there were SEVERE racial issues in America. This was an attempt to bring those to light in the context of a comic and show that Heros were depicted in various ways.

Hal (Galatic tool of the Oans) was the Guardian of his sector and thus was always flying around helping others. This was an attempt by Dennis to show that Hal wasn't doing anything against Racism on earth, especially America. This was meant to show the larger problem of racism in that few heroes of the time were standing up for "black-skins" or any other group that was suffering from oppression.

This series with Green Arrow were some of the finest work by any writer to try and use comics to address the issues of the day - including drug abuse. While this was heavy handed, I think it raised some awareness of the situation, while transcending the DCU worldview of sunny and bright so well characterized by Metropolis and Superman.

Hal was not happy with the selection of John stewart because of his attitude, not his skin tone. He has always regarded John as a friend and a close friend at that.

The problem with any statement / scan as indicated is taking it out of the larger context as well as not considering the cultural significance of the times when it was first publisher/written.

While Leaguer may have issues with Hal Jordan, there are a considerable number of people who thought he was a great character ... up until he was "turned" into a homicidal maniac who went against everything they built him up to.

Hope that helps ... :gl:

well said. i've always been rather ambivalent about hal. i don't really get into the sci-fi style of the gl corps, but i do respect the character quite a bit. the social commentary from the hard traveling heroes story was quality stuff and i liked his relationship with ollie. i can't think of another hero who's gone through as much character development as hal.

 

[Canadian Rider]

I really thought they could have gone somewhere with Hal. It was a tragedy how they treated him.

The new stuff is so hard to swallow (as I posted elsewhere) that I am really ambivalent about DC now. I still pick up my Bats of course, but I am struggling with both companies.

So much of the material is poor from both companies. It seems like Jeph Loeb is the only writer I seem to enjoy now because that is exactly what he does. He develops a character.

Sad. "I loved Hal man. Now he sucks." Quote from a best friend. :gl:

 

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

I have a question for all you guys it's a two part question.I hope this will not offend anyone.You see I'm a white looking PUERTO RICAN from Brooklyn NY and grew up in a mixed area and knew a lot of kids that read comics.Growing up where I did I had a special insite in to what I call "watered down racism" and that is to mean people that would rather not be around others but dont have a choice.Many times the white guys I knew would say something about blacks forgething that I was not white and the same would happen with my black friends who knew I was not white and say something abouts whites.Now me and my friends have had this very debate many times and I found that most of my white friends thought that Hal was not a racist while my black friends thought he was.Now I have to say I have read the story many times and I always thought that he did come off as a bit of a social biget and a racist.
Now I was wondering where the divide fell here on the hype.