Voices In My Head Episode #263 - Superman Turns 80

Have you ever thought to yourself, man, I'd like to host my own podcast? Well, guess what? You can go to podbean.com/voices and get everything you need to create, manage, and promote your podcast. I use Podbean every week for Voices in My Head. There's easy uploading and publishing tools, stunning templates, custom domains, social and promotional tools, an embeddable podcast player, monetization tools, and more. It is your all-in-one podcasting solution. With Podbean, you can create professional podcasts in minutes without any programming knowledge. Best of all, everything is mobile ready right from the start. So go to podbean.com/voices, and when you sign up, use the code "voices" and you'll get a sizable discount. Podbean, for your home podcasting. Thank you for listening to Voices in My Head. Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer-songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is your source for discussions on music, literature, movies, pop culture, theology, and more. Now sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode of the Voices in My Head podcast. And don't forget to let the voices in your head be heard by following me on Twitter @RickLeeJames and sharing your thoughts about today's show. Well, 2018 marks the 80th birthday of America's first, best-known, and my personal favorite superhero, Superman. Welcome to Voices in My Head. Today I'm celebrating the 80th birthday of Superman, and believe it or not, it actually connects with the podcast that I had with William Willimon earlier this week. People have been writing about Superman since the release of Action Comics on April 18, 1938. On our last episode of Voices in My Head, I welcomed Dr. William Willimon to discuss his book, Who Lynched Willie Earle: Preaching to Confront Racism. Appropriately enough, my favorite superhero, Superman, also has a history of confronting racism. Recently, a 1950s-era color poster of Superman speaking to a group of schoolchildren has been much circulated around the internet. In the poster, Superman is talking to the children about the importance of respecting diversity. In Superman's word bubble in the picture, he says, "And remember, boys and girls, your school, like our country, is made up of Americans of many different races, religions, and national origins. So..." Then at the bottom of the poster, a caption reads, "If you..." "You" is bolded. "If you hear anybody talk against a schoolmate or anyone else because of his religion, race, or national origin, don't wait. Tell him that kind of talk is un-American. Help keep your school all American." By the way, even though there are boys and girls in the picture, it says "tell him" instead of "tell them," but anyway, I guess a different time, we weren't as gender inclusive back then. Only a small number of these posters are thought to still exist, and we don't have information about how the poster came to be. However, we do know that the poster was not the original source of that powerful image and statement. As it turns out, in 1949, DC Comics, or National Comics as it was known at the time, produced this same image and text originally for a 12x18 brown paper schoolbook cover that was distributed to schools by the Institute for American Democracy. This institute was an offshoot of the Anti-Defamation League. While we don't know the author of Superman's reminder of the American creed, we believe that the art was done by the famed Superman artist Wayne Boring. You can see this picture if you look on rickleejames.com, or— no, correction, I'm sorry, it's gonna be on the podcast page at rickleejames.podbean.com. So if you want to go there, you can see a picture of both the original image and the restored color version, so I'll continue. Also in 1949, DC began publishing a long-running series of public service messages using its characters in the pages of its comic books. These PSAs were produced in conjunction with the National Social Welfare Assembly. Well, in early 2017, the art team at DC Comics' office digitally restored the poster, giving us a much larger and clearer image of this classic piece of art. Well, that's not the end of Superman's legacy of fighting bigotry. It doesn't end with a poster, boys and girls. In 2013, Rick Brower released a book called Superman vs. the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate. The book tells how in 1949, America's favorite superhero, Superman, took on the Ku Klux Klan. In real life through the Superman radio show, and in the process won the respect of millions of fans. The book describes how after World War II ended and the Nazis were defeated, many American men had lingering violence in their veins. They were searching for something to rally behind, and as twisted as it was, the Ku Klux Klan provided a cause for some of them to get behind. The populist KKK advertised that they were protecting America from threats within, and those so-called threats included Jews, African Americans, women, and various other groups who have historically been oppressed. It's mind-boggling to me how many of these, the same recruits who had just fought to free oppressed people from the Nazis, were now joining to become their oppressors in the ranks of the KKK. The hate group's membership grew to a terrifying all-time high in this period. While all this was happening, the nationally popular Superman radio show was experiencing an uncharacteristic lack of listener interest. This stands to reason in some ways because just as US soldiers were fighting Nazis during the war, Superman had also been fighting them on the radio and in the comics. And in the 1930s, radio was the leading form of entertainment and was used to propagate patriotism in America. Superman was part of this radio movement of combating true-life characters such as Hitler and Mussolini Now, on Saturday mornings when I was growing up, my sister and I would gather around the TV to watch cartoons. You know, it was cartoon day on Saturday. I don't even think my son knows what that is because he can see cartoons all the time streaming them. But before there was television, in the late 1940s, entire families would gather around the radio on Saturday mornings to cheer on Superman as he struck blows against their most despised bad guys. But when the war ended, Superman, no longer having Nazis to battle, returned to fighting fictitious villains from other worlds, and his audience just lost their connection. They weren't so connected to their hero anymore. The stories simply weren't relatable to the American experience. Now enter a young writer, journalist, activist by the name of Stetson Kennedy. That sounds like a fictitious character, doesn't it? A spy or something? But it was a real person, Stetson Kennedy. Kennedy was uncomfortable with the growth of the Ku Klux Klan in America. As a journalist, he'd already gone undercover and learned many of the secrets of the secret society. He shared his learned information with the police and government officials, but was disappointed to realize that no one seemed to have the courage it took to prosecute a socially respected club, which unbelievably, the KKK was at the time. At the same time, Stetson Kennedy began to fear for his own life. After all, he was no longer undercover, and he couldn't be certain that the officers he had turncoated for weren't Klan members themselves. With limited options and time, Stetson Kennedy called upon the most courageous and honorable figure he could think of: Superman. An appropriate choice for a mild-mannered reporter, don't you think? Well, in early 1946, Stetson Kennedy approached the creators of Superman's radio show with a bold idea. Kennedy would use his extensive knowledge of the KKK's secrets to help write detailed episodes of the show in which Superman would battle the Ku Klux Klan. In June 1946, the forces of good collided with the forces of hate, and the 16-part Clan of the Fiery Cross was presented on live radio. In the story, Jimmy Olsen, Superman, Perry White, they all triumph over hate. The resulting awareness worked to weaken the KKK, and Superman's message of tolerance was received to great acclaim. The episodes described the Klan members as stupid, childish, ignorant, and evil, and children across the country adopted this mentality. If their idol Superman was opposed to the Ku Klux Klan, then so would they. Suddenly, many fathers became ashamed and embarrassed of their involvement in Klan activities, Membership in the KKK began to plummet, and Superman—this time in real life—won a major battle against racism. Now, this book contains historical photographs, a bibliography, notes, and an index, making this high-quality book a perfect resource for American history students and buffs. It's also just as appropriate for children as it is for adults. If found Superman vs. the KKK— I found, rather, sorry, I can't read my own writing. I found Superman vs. the KKK to be a fascinating and detailed example of how Superman became so entwined with the American life and values. Well, there's a lot more I could say about Superman on the week of his 80th birthday, but I think for right now I'll just say happy birthday, Man of Steel. Thank you for fighting against the injustice of racism in the comics, on the radio, and in real life. Now, if you the listener would like to know more about this particular story of Superman, I highly recommend Superman vs. the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate by Rick Bowers. If you'd like a broader and more in-depth history of the character, Check out Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero by Larry Tye. Or NPR commentator Glen Weldon has an absolutely amazing read called Superman: The Unauthorized Biography. All of those books are excellent. They're very entertaining, they keep your attention, and they'll teach you things you didn't know about history, not just Superman. But it's, it's a fascinating read, especially if you'd like to know the history of our country in those time periods. And how a pop culture figure like Superman can play into something like that. Now, all of these books cover, cover similar terrain, but they're all from different angles, and they're all page-turners, so you can't go wrong with any of them in my opinion, especially if you're a Superman buff like me. I know not everyone loves Superman. In fact, a lot of people seem to hate him, but he was my first superhero, really. I used to watch him on the Super Friends, and I just thought he was great. And as I grew up, he kinda was that figure that reminded me that there was truth and justice in the world. And as a Christian, it means a lot to me that as we seek the justice of God in the world, that we be agents of Christ in the world. In many ways, Superman is a Christ figure to us. It's not a perfect analogy, but I said in many ways. So I appreciate the character of Superman. Well, that's all for this episode. Superman, happy 80th birthday, and thank you for being one of the voices in my head this week, and really for being one of the voices in my head since childhood and throughout my adult life. Thank you all for listening, and God bless. Thank you for joining me here this week on the Voices in My Head podcast. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com, follow me on Twitter @RickLeeJames, like my artist page on Facebook me on Facebook at facebook.com/RickLeeJames, and keep up to date on what I'm writing at my author page on Amazon.com. Make sure to follow my calendar on the website, and if you would like to have me come to your town to do a concert, a speaking engagement, or a book event, you can book me through my website by clicking on the link for Pare Booking Agency. That's P-A-R-E Booking. And finally, it would mean the world to me if you were to leave me a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast is on the internet. And now the benediction: May the God of peace, who raised Christ from the dead, strengthen your inner being for every good work. And may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and dwell within you this day and forevermore. Amen.