Superman and Hitman discuss America

In A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments--Day 107, Brian Cronin presents a comic-book discussion between Superman and Hitman, a paid assassin. Superman has just failed to save an astronaut and Hitman is consoling him.

First, Superman talks about what the "all-American" astronaut believed in--"the things that he is certain of":The shot heard round the world, the Alamo, Custer's Last Stand, a few Marines raising the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima...

America, the greatest country on God's earth...

And Superman.Hitman counters that America could be a great place except for its immigrants:They all wanna be Italian or Greek, or Irish or Polish or Russian, or African or Vietnamese or Cambodian or whatever...so they hang onto alla that, they stick to their own kind. An' everyone stays suspicious of everyone else an' for what...?

Culture? History? What the hell is that, a bunch of stuff your folks said you hadda believe in all your life? Does that make it real?Rob's reply

In response, I posted the following comment:Custer's Last Stand is emblematic of America's greatness? Because we were trying to take the land from those savage Indians and make it into something productive?

And different ethnic cultures are bad? Because bland WASPs like George W. Bush and Lex Luthor never do any harm?

Sorry. This exchange may be well-written, but I'm not feeling its message. Sounds to me like thinly veiled racism--the idea that white Christian America is superior to everything else.Here's how Hitman could've responded to Superman. And how an Indian or another minority might've responded:"The shot heard round the world, the Alamo, Custer's Last Stand, a few Marines raising the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima...America, the greatest country on God's earth...and Superman." What the hell is that? Culture? History? A bunch of stuff your folks said you hadda believe in all your life? Does that make it real?I trust the point is obvious. When it's someone else's culture or history, it's worthless and unreal. When it's "our" culture and history, it's holy writ.

As usual, Superman needs a multicultural perspective. He spends most of his time helping white Americans and little time help Indians, other minorities, or foreigners. If he weren't so biased and Eurocentric, it would be the other way around.

For more on the subject, see Giving Up PEACE ON EARTH and The Seminal Moment in GREEN LANTERN #76.