Stereo Williams, The Daily Beast; Stan Lee’s Radical Fight Against Racists: ‘The Only Way to Destroy Them Is to Expose Them’
[Kip Currier: Inspiring and powerful example of the ways every person can make a choice to stand against hatred of the "other" and bigotry, in all its forms.]
"Regardless of ongoing controversy surrounding the contributions of
Kirby and others, Lee should be remembered for being an agent of change
in his medium. A 1968 post from Lee’s mail column has been making the
rounds in the wake of his death. In it, Lee makes plain his stance on
racism.
“Let’s lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are
among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. But, unlike a
team of costumed super-villains, they can’t be halted with a punch in
the snoot, or a zap from a ray gun. The only way to destroy them is to
expose them—to reveal them for the insidious evils they really are. The
bigot is an unreasoning hater—one who hates blindly, fanatically,
indiscriminately. If his hang-up is black men, he hates ALL black men.
If a redhead once offended him, he hates ALL redheads. If some foreigner
beat him to a job, he’s down on ALL foreigners. He hates people he’s
never seen—people he’s never known—with equal intensity—with equal
venom.
“Now, we’re not trying to say it’s unreasonable for one
human being to bug another. But, although anyone has the right to
dislike another individual, it’s totally irrational, patently insane to
condemn an entire race—to despise an entire nation—to vilify an entire
religion. Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own
merits. Sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we
must fill our hearts with tolerance. For then, and only then, will we be
truly worthy of the concept that man was created in the image of God—a
God who calls us ALL—His children.”
Stan Lee’s creative voice
helped reshape the role of comics in American society and helped affect
how American society saw comics. In doing so, Lee helped challenge his
readers and his peers. His characters live now as part of the fabric of
our culture—in blockbuster movies, acclaimed TV shows, video games and a
host of other media. Generations of comic-book lovers saw themselves in
those characters, and that was what he’d wanted all along. As some
quarters of America tell themselves that politics have no place in pop
art, the proof in Stan Lee’s history reminds us that the message has
always been a part of the medium. Those who believe otherwise maybe have
to consider that they aren’t the “good guy” in the story. After all—you
can’t be a hero if you don’t stand for anything."
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