One of the things I enjoyed most about Marvel’s Falcon and Winter Soldier series on Disney+ is that the show didn’t shy away from something important: that no matter how much good he does in service of his country, as a soldier or as a superhero, in the end, Sam Wilson is still a Black man in America.
In episode one, Sam and James Rhodes walk through the new Captain America memorial at the Smithsonian. Rhodes, also an African-American man, is the hero War Machine. His power comes from the advanced technology of a modified version of Tony Stark’s Iron Man armour. Rhodes asks Sam why he gave up the indestructible shield that Steve Rogers gave him at the end of Avengers Endgame? Why did Wilson reject the mantle of Captain America?
It’s obvious that Sam doesn’t think he can live up to the legacy Steve Rogers left behind. White, black, brown, red or yellow… Steve Rogers was the best America had to offer. But is there another reason? Walking through the museum and looking at all those images of Rogers’ heroism, of Uncle Sam, of American patriotism, the one thing Sam Wilson does not see on display is a face that looks like his own.
He might love his country. He has certainly fought time and time again to defend its people and its ideals. But does America love him back? Would the powers-that-be ACCEPT his ownership of the shield or his taking on the exalted identity of Captain America?
After all… Sam Wilson is still a Black man in America.
Deeper in that first episode, Sam and his sister try to get a loan to save their family’s fishing trawler. The loan officer recognizes him but isn’t sure why. Did Sam maybe play football at Louisiana State? With a little prodding, the man recognizes Wilson as The Falcon and immediately sneaks a photo of the hero with his cel phone. Then, woven amongst TMZ-level questions and a request for Sam to pose with him for a photo, the bank official casually denies The Wilsons their loan.
Some of this is subtle. The loan officer thinks that if he recognizes Sam, it must be for one of a narrow selection of reasons. That list, in the real world, usually means something athletic or something in entertainment. More than a few rappers and pundits have expressed this sentiment over the years but I like the way Killer Mike puts it in the song “Ric Flair”:
To make it out the ice cold streets of the city
You better have a Christopher word game, witty
You better have a dance game similar to Diddy
Or play b-ball above the rim like Smitty
Josh, Chris Bosh, Pau Gasol
Or any other n**** that ball at all
Sam Wilson is still a Black man in America.
In episode two of the series, we meet Isaiah Bradley, an African-American soldier used as a test subject when the US Army tried to recreate Dr. Erskine’s super soldier formula after the World War II disappearance of Steve Rogers. Isaiah Bradley was the Black Captain America. And by Bradley’s own account, not even being Captain America protected him against the racism of the system. After his years of service, Bradley is imprisoned for thirty years by the very government he had served. He was further used as a guinea pig, presumably in an attempt to duplicate the fluke that created him. Bradley’s time as America’s super soldier has been kept a secret from the world and Bucky Barnes, the titular Winter Soldier and reluctant partner to Wilson, only knows him because he lost a one-on-one fight to Bradley during the Korean War.
Isaiah Bradley’s life echoes more than one blight on American history including the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, the buffalo soldiers and, of course, slavery itself. Isaiah Bradley was Captain America… but he was also still just a Black man in America.
Leaving Bradley’s home, Sam and Bucky argue about the secret of the Black Cap. They are stopped by the Baltimore police who focus on Sam, a Black man raising his voice to a white man on the street in broad daylight. The lead officer becomes confrontational with Sam. Only after Bucky’s intervention, a challenge of “do you know who he is?”, does the officer relent. Sam is lucky that he had a white friend to vouch for him. Fame isn’t always enough to prevent a Black man from being harassed by the cops in America.
And there are many examples of this terrible truth to choose from. Real life Black men like NBA player Sterling Brown who was assaulted by Milwaukee police after parking improperly or Eastern Illinois University swimmer Jaylan Butler, assaulted by police who thought he was holding his teammates hostage when they stopped on the way home from a swim meet to stretch their legs and take a group photo. Most recently, Ryan Coogler, who is ironically best known as the director of Marvel’s incredible Black Panther feature film, was put and handcuffs and briefly detained by Atlanta police while trying to withdraw money from his own Bank of America account.
Brown. Butler. Coogler. All were just Black men trying to go about another day… in America.
This series is the Marvel equivalent of Critical Race Theory in action. To paraphrase Wikipedia’s article on the subject, CRT is an intellectual and social movement of that seeks to examine the intersection of race, society, and law in the past, present and future of the United States. Falcon and Winter Soldier lays this examination bare, from Isiah Bradley’s warnings for Sam to Bucky apologizing to Wilson and acknowledging the experience and emotion that he, as a white man, hasn’t had and can only hope to ever understand.
Sam Wilson does, finally, take on the mantle of Captain America. This comes only after a disastrous with John Walker in the costume. Walker, a photogenic, blond, white soldier with a reputation for heroism, is the American government’s choice to take up the mantle. But, as Biggie Smalls might say his “reign on top was short like leprechauns”. Walker is a volatile cocktail of pride and paranoia, patriotism and selfish ego. He lashes out in an act of personal vengeance and very publicly murders a downed foe who is attempting to surrender. Seeing Walker fail and having to apprehend him and take back the symbolic shield gives Wilson the self-confidence to assume the iconic role.
As the final episode reaches its climax, Sam Wilson gives an impassioned speech to some politicians (and the world at large) about the challenges he knows he will, and is already facing, as a Black man wearing the uniform of Captain America. “Every time I pick this [shield] up, I know there are millions of people out there who are going to hate me for it. And there’s nothing I can do to change it. Yet, I’m still here. No super-serum. No blonde hair or blue eyes,” says Wilson. “The only power I have is that I believe we can do better.”
Sam Wilson knows… he will always be a Black man in America. His solution to this challenge is the right one: Change America.
photo via Hot Toys