by rory midhani
As long as the United States has been a country, and even since before it was this country, it’s been a country where Immigrants are a vital part of what makes the country work. America as we know it started as a group of white men coming over to colonize it, and then murdering and pillaging their way across the land until they had a country. Since then, immigrants have come from every country, from every ethnicity and class and religion and ability and gender and sexuality. It’s honestly downright ridiculous that in modern day America there are people, especially people in power, who think it’s okay to block immigrants from coming into America if they’re from certain areas of the world or they belong to certain religions. It’s even more ridiculous to block refugees who are fleeing danger and war and persecution to reach the “American Dream.”
But this is exactly what the United States government is doing right now. Donald Trump and his Nazi friends hate Muslims and are scared of brown people. Fuck Donald Trump. Fuck Nazis. Fuck everyone who wants to keep immigrants and refugees out of the United States. Obviously real-life immigrants and refugees are way more important than fictional ones ever will be, but here are some characters you can read about if you want to see stories about immigrants and refugees who are kicking bad guys’ butts.
Art by Joe Quinones
America Chavez
The daughter of two moms from another planet and dimension, America is about as immigrant as you can get. She’s one of the best Latina characters in comics and so apart from being from another dimension and planet, she’s also representative of the many Latinx immigrants that live here and deserve to be treated with respect. You can read about her in the upcoming America solo series by Gabby Rivera and Joe Quinones.
Adele Silveira, Agents of the Realm
One of the titular Agents, Adele is a college student from Brazil who’s studying here in the United States. She’s confident, excited and full of love and affection. When she’s in a fight she uses her polearm to defend her friends and go on the offensive. Without her, the team and the comic just wouldn’t be the same.
Art by Victor Ibanez
Storm
Storm was born in Kenya, and she still sometimes lives there, or in other parts of Africa like Cairo or the fictional nation of Wakanda. But she also spends a lot of time living in the United States, where she’s pretty much the best X-Man of all time. Ororo Monroe is one of the most iconic and well-loved superheroes from the entire Marvel universe, and if Republicans had their way, she probably wouldn’t be allowed in our country.
Dust
Another X-Man, Dust’s real name is Sooraya Qadir, and she was born in Afghanistan before travelling to the United States to study at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. She wears a niqab and is a Sunni Muslim, and she’s a superhero who saves lives and fights evil. Sooraya’s power is a mutant ability to turn into a sand-like substance, and she fights alongside the Young Mutants.
Ms. Marvel’s Mom, Muneeba Khan
Ms. Marvel’s real name is Kamala Khan and her parents are both Muslim immigrants from Karachi, Pakistan. They’re the kind of people who are being specifically targeted by Trump’s evil, Nazi policies. Muneeba is a protective and oftentimes traditional mom, but she’s also extremely loving and supportive. At one point, Kamala revealed her superhero status to her mom and her mom hugged her and said “Oh, beta, I know… If the worst thing you do is sneak out to help suffering people, then I thank God for having raised a righteous child.” She’s a great mom.
Captain America’s mom, Sarah Rogers
Sarah Rogers is from Ireland and moved to New York City after she married Joseph Rogers. This is something that Captain America brings up again and again when “patriots” try to argue with him that immigrants are ruining the country. It’s not only evil and hateful to want to ban immigrants because of where they come from, but Captain America, a symbol of patriotism, opposes it.
New Releases (February 1)
Absolute Wonder Woman by Azzarello and Chang Vol 1 HC
Harley Quinn and Her Gang of Harleys TP
Wonder Woman Vol 9 Resurrection TP
Jem & The Holograms Annual 2017
Welcome to Drawn to Comics! From diary comics to superheroes, from webcomics to graphic novels – this is where we’ll be taking a look at comics by, featuring and for queer ladies. So whether you love to look at detailed personal accounts of other people’s lives, explore new and creative worlds, or you just love to see hot ladies in spandex, we’ve got something for you.
If you have a comic that you’d like to see me review, you can email me at mey [at] autostraddle [dot] com.
THAT. AMERICA. COVER.
I love America (she and Moana are my favorite characters of all time, I never shut up about her), and I know I’m probably the only person who thinks this, but the Formation cover bothers me. I don’t remember if shes’s canonically black and Latina, but I’ve had a huge problem with people adopting Formation for their own needs (especially white women using it during the election). Formation was a love letter for black women. Not all women, not all women of color. Black women. And in the interest in making sure that all people of color aren’t all boxed together, I just need to say that I don’t like everyone appropriating it. I’m half black and I don’t even think I can use it for myself, so the idea of assuming that Formation imagery is okay to use for all women of color just feels off to me.
Obviously, if I’m incorrect and she is mixed, and the series is going to discuss what it’s like being biracial, I support it a little more. And again, I know I’m not in the majority on this one because I’ve seen so many people on Tumblr praise this cover, but it’s been bothering me since I first saw the imagery.
I understand where you’re coming from, but the reaction I’ve seen from black people has been incredibly positive so I assumed most people didn’t have a problem with it. One site I go to regularly, BlackNerdProblems, had a awesome post celebrating the cover. And when it was first announced on twitter a Beyonce fan account tweeted it and got thousands of retweets and likes. So there might be people who have a problem with it but a lot of people also seem to be fine with it. Here’s the article I mentioned.
http://blacknerdproblems.com/an-open-letter-to-america-chavezs-cover-paying-homage-to-beyonces-formation/
MovieBob has a list of 7 Muslims superheroes who belong in the MCU.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8fOjdPcHK8