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BLERD BINDER: Racebending in live action adaptations.

NNPA NEWSWIRE — In this article, we will talk about Zoe Kravitz’s casting, times when racebent casting was awesome, times when racebent casting failed, why it is an important conversation to have, and how it affects the audience and fans.

Published

6 years ago

October 30, 2019

Oakland Post

Zoë Kravitz speaking at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. (Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons)

“Holy Cow Batman! Aquaman is Catwoman’s stepfather!!!”

Blurb: The Blerd Binder covers nerdy news for the Black nerds of the world. We welcome all as we talk about subjects ranging from Movies to Music and Tech to Toys. Today, we will talk about racebent casting in the movie industry.

By Noah Washington, NNPA Newswire Contributor

HOLY COW! Last week, a historic moment happened in Nerd Culture: the casting of Catwoman for director Matt Reeves The Batman.

As far as Blerd Culture is concerned, the casting of Zoe Kravitz (Aquaman, Jason Moama’s stepdaughter) as Catwoman is big news on a number of different levels.

Racebending of fictional characters (changing of a character’s perceived race or ethnicity during the adaptation of a work from one medium to another) has become a hot topic in today’s age of comic book renaissance.

Sometimes, it heavily divides fans. Sometimes, it has fans screaming for joy. Sometimes, nobody cares. But each time the decision is met with commentary.

In this article, we will talk about Zoe Kravitz’s casting, times when racebent casting was awesome, times when racebent casting failed, why it is an important conversation to have, and how it affects the audience and fans.

Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman casting brings me a feeling of nostalgia as I can’t help but think of Eartha Kitt’s turn as Catwoman from the Batman ‘66 show. Based on what Matt Reeves has said about his interpretation of Batman and his surrounding characters, the film will be a story that harkens back to the Dark Knight’s detective roots.

Kitt was one of the earliest actors who racebent a character when she took over the role from White actress Julie Newmar in the third season of the iconic TV show. The casting change was reportedly made because Newmar was filming another movie at the time.

It’s worth noting that Kitt was one of the most recognizable actors to appear the role during the show’s run. Her personification of the character is as close to perfect and unique as she could have gotten without literally plucking the illustrated character from the pages of a comic book.

Another example of racebending was Marvel’s casting of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, even though the race of the character has already been changed in the comics before Jackson was even cast.

According to the site, comicbook.com, “I still buy comic books, so I go to this store in L.A., Golden Apple, and I was in there one day and I’m passing the rack and I see this thing, The Ultimates, and I go, ‘Wow, it looks like me,'” Jackson recalled. “So I started looking, and it’s like, Nick Fury looks just like me, and I’m reading, and he goes, ‘Well, if they make a movie about us, who do you want to play you?’ and Nick Fury goes, ‘Samuel L. Jackson.’ I go, ‘I didn’t give anybody my permission to use my image in a comic book.'”

Jackson goes on to explain that, after calling his agent and explaining how and where he discovered his likeness in a comic book, “She said, ‘Let me call somebody,'” the actor shared. “So she calls Marvel and they say, ‘Well, we are thinking about making these movies and, hopefully, if we make them, he would play Nick Fury.’ I’m like, ‘For real?'”

When the news of Jackson being cast was revealed to the public, the internet went into a frenzy. However, after more than 10 years of playing the character, Nick Fury has become indelibly associated with Mr. Jackson.

Eartha Kitt and Samuel L. Jackson are just two examples of how racebending a character with the right actor can deliver amazing results for a television show or feature film.

These two performances were met with the type of acclaim and mainstream success that is indicative of blockbuster hits. Not because they look different from the original presentations of the characters they portrayed, but because they were the right actors to embody the characters transition from 2D comics to television and film.

However, Kitt and Jackson’s success hasn’t changed the underlying controversy and question: Why not just create new diverse characters?

While purists may always have issues with new interpretations of legendary characters, there’s often a business reason driving the decision to change an existing character instead of developing new characters with a focus on diversity.

At a time when comic book properties are seemingly optioned for television, film and theater projects on a weekly basis, the reason that producers and others don’t just go and make new characters is a matter of economics: Financing these projects is expensive, and to ensure adequate return on investment, the most popular characters with highest consumer awareness are usually chosen as the centerpiece of the show or film franchise.

Some existing characters are so popular that it’s almost be impossible to develop a new character with any reasonable hope of achieving a similarly high level of popularity without significant investment.

Investing to make a completely new character popular enough to be a box office draw, just to cast an actor of color in a role, when there is an existing character that is perfect for the story, makes no sense. Especially since, in many cases, the goal is to find the best actor for the role and, frequently, an actor of color is cast that perfectly embodies role.

Of course, there are times when a racebending isn’t only controversial, it’s also wrong. I am talking about in cases of White Washing, where instead of replacing a white character with a minority actor, a minority character is played by a white actor.

I have two very good examples of this.

A significant portion of the cast of M.Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender, and the controversial casting of Tilda Swinton as the ‘Ancient One’ in Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

I’ll start with Doctor Strange. I do not have any problem with Swinton’s performance as The Ancient One. I thought the spin on the character was alright, but I did not appreciate the opportunity it took away from casting an Asian actor who could have been the live-action representation.

This signals a problem because most of the time, in fantasy films where magic is involved, the mystical and powerful elder has always been an old White man. I know that Swinton as a woman, is also a minority, so that is a plus, but what does this say to other minorities? Can only elderly White men hold great power and wisdom?

I love Dumbledore from Harry Potter, The Doctor from Doctor Who, Gandalf from Lord of The Rings, and Professor X from X-Men. But there comes a point when all of these characters tend to blend together. You need diverse casting, like in the case of Djimon Hounsou as “The Wizard Shazam” from Shazam to keep things interesting.

And now that most dreaded moment when the entire collective nerd community cringes: Whenever The Last Airbender is brought up in conversation.

Nearly all of the anime’s/cartoon’s superb characters — heavily based in Asian culture — were replaced with White actors that did not represent those original characters in characteristics, appearance, or even name.

When none of these qualities are present, then they might as well be new characters. This was one case of racebent casting that served no purpose and is insulting to the original material, the creators and the fans that truly love Avatar: The Last Airbender.

This is an issue that shouldn’t be happening in the 21st century. Scarlett Johannson’s casting in Ghost in the Shell should never have happened. I understand that actors should be able to do what they were hired to do and “act.” but some roles were not meant for certain people. We have to be inclusive of the actors that might not be able to find work outside of the roles that are in their perceived purview.

One of the most iconic rumors that ended with rage and fury is when Micheal B.Jordan was rumored to be cast as Superman after Henry Cavill supposedly left the role (these are just internet rumors that have not been made official by DC or Warner Bros).

The internet broke out in such a frenzy that somebody would have thought the world had ended. Numerous online fans said, “Superman can’t be Black.”

All I have to say to that is that Superman has had a history where he indeed was Black so it’s not a stretch to say that one day, we may see a live action adaptation. Calvin Ellis was a black Superman modeled after Barack Obama from the comics, as well as more recently, Val-Zod, who was created in 2014.

On the other side of things, there are times where storyline and lore of the original source material would truly stop a character’s race from being changed. One of the most notable examples is the iconic character, Bruce Wayne.

The Wayne family is said to have had a hand in bringing Gotham City to life and had wealth going back generations as early as the 1700s in America. It would be very hard for an audience to believe that an African American had Wayne family wealth in the 1700s during the period of slavery. That doesn’t mean that Batman can’t be black, but that Bruce Wayne shouldn’t be black.

There is also the old argument that “if you make a character who was already White suddenly Black, why can’t Black Panther be White?” I will happily give you the answer to that question. Some character’s lore and location make the character who they are. T’Challa, the Black Panther, is an African King who is native-born and, similar to the case with Bruce Wayne, it would be very hard to write that character as any other race.

We should save our criticism of racebent casting to situations where the casting excludes marginalized groups that would not have been represented otherwise.

We in nerd culture tend to make judgments before we see the final product. Good or bad, casting choices usually come down to the ability of the actors cast in the role and how they well they embody the interpretation of the character the director envisions.

This is an important discussion as we should just allow these actors to show us their interpretation of these iconic characters before we make judgments. But we also need to have cultural awareness so that we know when a culture is taken advantage of or appropriated, as is too often the case with white washing.

I hope that you keep this in mind the next time you watch a TV show or movie where a familiar character looks a little different. Remember, this is about who the younger generation can look up to with pride and see themselves in.

We now live in an age where superhero Films and TV shows are released in droves. There is plenty of room at the table for everyone to feel welcomed.

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High Court Opens Door to Police Accountability

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected a judicial doctrine that for years shielded law enforcement officers from civil liability in police shooting cases by allowing courts to assess force based only on the final moments before an officer pulled the trigger.

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected a judicial doctrine that for years shielded law enforcement officers from civil liability in police shooting cases by allowing courts to assess force based only on the final moments before an officer pulled the trigger. In Barnes v. Felix, the high court struck down the Fifth Circuit’s “moment-of-threat” rule, which had been used to justify the 2016 killing of Ashtian Barnes, a Black man shot during a traffic stop outside Houston. Officer Roberto Felix fired two shots into Barnes’s moving car after stepping onto the doorsill. The lower courts determined that only the two seconds before the shooting—when Felix was holding onto the vehicle—mattered in deciding whether the use of deadly force was reasonable. The Supreme Court disagreed. Writing for the unanimous Court, Justice Elena Kagan made clear that determining whether an officer’s use of force is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment requires an analysis of the totality of the circumstances, including all events leading up to the shooting. “A court deciding a use-of-force case cannot review the totality of the circumstances if it has put on chronological blinders,” the Court ruled.

The victim’s mother, Janice Barnes, brought the case under Section 1983, alleging that Felix violated her son’s constitutional rights. The ruling sends the case back to the lower courts for reconsideration under the broader standard set by the Supreme Court. According to the Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC), the Court’s ruling solidifies that police do not have special constitutional status and should be held to the same accountability standards. “The moment-of-threat rule is entirely unsupported by the Constitution’s text and history,” said Nargis Aslami, a fellow at CAC. Chief Counsel Brianne Gorod added, “The Court took a small but important step toward greater accountability for police officers who violate the Fourth Amendment by inflicting unnecessary violence during their encounters with the public.” The ruling comes as data continue to show disproportionate police encounters and violence against Black Americans. A NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet revealed that a Black person is five times more likely than a white person to be stopped without just cause. Black men are twice as likely to be stopped as Black women. Meanwhile, 65% of Black adults say they have felt targeted because of their race.

Each year, between 900 and 1,100 people are shot and killed by police in the United States. Since 2005, at least 98 non-federal law enforcement officers have been arrested for fatal on-duty shootings. Still, only 35 have been convicted—and just three have been convicted of murder with the convictions upheld. Recent data from the Prison Policy Initiative show that while white residents are most likely to initiate contact with police—for reasons like reporting crimes or seeking help—Black, Hispanic, and Asian individuals are more likely to be on the receiving end of police-initiated contact, including street stops, traffic stops, and arrests. Traffic stops, which remain the most common form of police-initiated contact, are also among the most lethal. According to Mapping Police Violence, over 100 police killings occurred during traffic stops in 2023. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 62% of Black people whose most recent police contact in 2022 was initiated by officers were drivers in traffic stops. That compares to 56% to 59% among other racial groups. Black drivers were searched or arrested at a rate of 9%—more than double that of white drivers and significantly higher than Hispanic or Asian drivers. “The Supreme Court’s decision in Barnes v. Felix is crucial not only for police accountability but also for broader constitutional protections,” the North Star Law Group wrote in a post. “If the Court upholds the ‘moment of threat’ standard, it could make it even harder to hold officers accountable for excessive force. However, if it reinforces the ‘totality of circumstances’ standard or adopts a hybrid approach, it could create a fairer system that protects both civilians and responsible police officers.”

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Workplace Inequity Worsens for Black Women

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Meanwhile, they remain underrepresented in high-wage fields like tech, law, and executive management—even when they hold the degrees and credentials to qualify.

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

Black women remain the backbone of the U.S. labor force—working more, earning less, and bearing greater burdens across nearly every sector. Even as the country added 177,000 jobs in April, Black women lost 106,000 positions, the steepest decline of any group. Their unemployment rate jumped to 6.1%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the losses go far deeper than a single month of data. Research shows Black women are not only overrepresented in low-wage industries like care, cleaning, education, and food service—they are also consistently denied advancement and paid significantly less than white male peers, even with the same credentials. In its July 2024 report, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) found Black women working full-time, year-round earned just 69.1 cents for every dollar paid to white men. That figure drops to 49.6 cents in states like Louisiana. “Black women consistently have higher labor force participation rates than other demographics of women,” officials from the National Partnership for Women and Families wrote. Yet those higher participation rates have not translated into pay equity or job security.

The earnings gap grows wider with age. For example, Black women aged 56 to 65 working full-time, year-round, earn just 59.3 cents for every dollar paid to white men in the same age group. Those in leadership roles report disproportionately high dissatisfaction with pay and access to advancement, with 90% of women of color in management saying systemic barriers hinder workplace progress. Additionally, according to a 2022 Health Affairs report, more than one in five Black women in the labor force are in health care—more than any other group. However, nearly two-thirds of them work as licensed practical nurses or aides, and 40% are in long-term care. These roles are among the lowest-paid and highest-risk in the industry, often involving grueling schedules, poor benefits, and unsafe conditions. Beyond health care, the National Employment Law Project found that more than half of Black women work in jobs where they are overrepresented, such as childcare, janitorial work, and food preparation. Meanwhile, they remain underrepresented in high-wage fields like tech, law, and executive management—even when they hold the degrees and credentials to qualify.

In Boston, Charity Wallace, a 37-year-old biotech professional, and Chassity Coston, a 35-year-old middle school principal, both say they’re leaning heavily on community and mental health strategies to cope with workplace challenges. “It’s a constant fight of belonging and really having your girlfriends or your homegirls or my mom and my sister,” Wallace told NBC News. “I complain to them every day about something that’s going on at work. So having that circle of Black women that you can really vent to is important because, again, you cannot let things like this sit. We’ve been silenced for too long.” Limited opportunities for promotion and sponsorship compound the isolation many Black women feel in their workplaces. In 2024, writer Tiffani Lambie described the “invisible struggle for Black women” at work. “The concept of ‘Black Girl Magic’ contributes to the notion that Black women are superheroes,” she wrote. “Although the intent of this movement was to empower and celebrate the uniqueness of Black women, the perception has also put Black women at greater risk of anxiety and depression—conditions that are more chronic and intense in Black women than in others.”

She warned that workplace conditions—marked by fear, lack of support, and erasure—threaten to push more Black women out of leadership and career pipelines. “If left untouched, the number of Black women in leadership and beyond will continue to decline,” Lambie wrote. “It is incumbent on everyone to account for these experiences and create an equitable and safe environment for everyone to succeed.” The Urban Institute recently spoke with a Black woman who transitioned from part-time fast food work to a full-time data entry role after completing a graduate degree. The job offered her better pay, health insurance, and stability. “It gives you a sense of focus and determination,” she said. “Now, I can build my career path.”

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Black Women Decimated by Job Loss in Trump Economy

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The number of employed Black women dropped from 10.325 million in March to 10.219 million in April. Their unemployment rate jumped from 5.1% to 6.1%, the largest month-to-month increase among all racial and gender groups.

Published

2 days ago

May 14, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

According to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, black women experienced the steepest job loss of any demographic group in April, shedding 106,000 jobs. The April report shows a significant setback for Black women in the labor market, even as the U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs and the national unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. The number of employed Black women dropped from 10.325 million in March to 10.219 million in April. Their unemployment rate jumped from 5.1% to 6.1%, the largest month-to-month increase among all racial and gender groups. Among other findings, the labor force participation rate for Black women edged to 61.2%, indicating a loss in employment and a possible decline in overall workforce engagement. The unemployment rate for white women remained unchanged at 3.3%. Hispanic women’s unemployment also held at 4.6%. Women in other groups generally do not face the dual barriers of racial and gender discrimination that Black women contend with, a factor in the jobless rate gap.

The overall Black unemployment rate rose to 6.3% in April, up from 6.2% in March, marking the third straight monthly increase and the highest rate since January. In contrast, Black men saw a gain in employment, dropping their jobless rate from 6.1% to 5.6%. Asian Americans had the lowest unemployment rate in April at 3.0%, while the rate for Hispanic Americans was 5.2% and 3.8% for white Americans. HBCU Money reported that the number of Black women employed is now at a five-month low, while the number of unemployed Black women is at a five-month high. Economist William Michael Cunningham, owner of Creative Investment Research, told BLACK ENTERPRISE that the number of unemployed Black Americans increased by 29,000 in April, reaching nearly 1.4 million. At the same time, the total Black labor force declined by 7,000. “The unusual nature of this increase in Black women’s unemployment is a testament to and a direct result of the anti-DEI and anti-Black focus of the new administration’s policies,” Cunningham said. “This is demonstrably damaging to the Black community, something we have not seen before.”

Cunningham noted that many Black women are searching for jobs but not finding them. He said eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion roles and cuts in federal government jobs are key contributors. The BLS reported that federal government employment dropped by 9,000 in April and is down 26,000 since January. “For Black women, the numbers show that those seeking work are not finding jobs,” Cunningham said. “The jobs that have traditionally been a path to stability are disappearing.” Nationwide, job growth continued in health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance. Average hourly earnings increased by six cents to $36.06. The Employment Situation for May is scheduled for release on Friday, June 6.