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From Superman taking down the KKK to the
real life Spider-Man in a lab coat, the
cosplayers rewriting the rules, and kids
whose wheelchairs become their
superpowers. These are superhero stories
like you've never seen before. The year
was 1946.
Radio was king and the adventures of
Superman ruled the airwaves. But with
fascism vanquished, the man of steel set
his sights on a different foe. This is
the story of how Superman busted the Ku
Klux Clan. Because unless we stop this
Fiery Cross clan now, they'll get you no
matter where you go.
The story starts with Stson Kennedy, a
journalist who infiltrated the clan for
the Anti-Deamation League.
He wanted to melt the cultural glue that
held the clan together.
Thanks, Rick.
No problem.
That's Rick Bowers.
B.
He wrote this book,
Superman versus the Klux Clan.
But what does Stson Kennedy have to do
with Superman? Remember, the last son of
Krypton needed a new enemy. The
producers of the radio show on a very
bold gambit decided Superman would take
on real life hate groups.
[Music]
The creators of the adventures of
Superman used Kennedy's research to
produce a 16-part series called The Clan
of the Fiery
Cross where a great secret society
pledged to purify America.
The Superman producers went to the
Anti-Defamation League and said, "Auate
our script. provide us more information.
It was a way to get the message out that
no one else could get out just by
telling horror stories.
I'm the grand scorpion of the clan of
the fiery cross.
A grand rat, you mean?
It exposed the clan as hate mongers, but
it also exposed the clan as a
money-driven organization.
I'm running up business rigs and so are
you. We deal in one of the oldest and
most profitable commodities on earth.
Hate. It was a breakthrough in American
broadcasting. Not only had they done
this great public service, but they
elevated themselves to the number one
radio show for kids on air.
Well, they're cowardly gangsters who
operate at night, hidden behind sheets
and hoods. Their minds are diseased with
hate. No one is safe from them.
for
[Music]
Spider-Man.
Yes.
[Music]
[Music]
This is important.
[Music]
Spider-Man.
[Music]
There are very few prominent black
cosplayers. I definitely feel like a
minority within a minority sometimes.
Cosplay literally stands for costume
play. So, it's individuals who dress up
in costumes. You get to embody the
characters. It's almost like making an
action figure of yourself. My name is
Jordan Barnett. By day, I'm a web
content manager, but by night, I'm
Deadshot.
For me, cosplay is a creative outlet.
I'm not an artist. I can't draw, but I
love to build. I love to craft, do
things with my hands. Each costume is
art piece. Cosplayers know me as Blurred
Vision. Blurred literally stands for
black nerd. Within the cosplay community
in general, I feel accepted, but the
majority of characters I cosplay were
originally Caucasian characters. I
definitely feel the racial tension. Even
my Flash cosplay, people thought at
first I was the reverse Flash. I'm
clearly not like that character you
think I am, so why assume I'm the
villain? It's really disconcerting when
you love a character, but because you
don't actually look like the character,
people will kind of judge you for that.
For me and the people that I associate
with, it's more about what you love. And
if you love the character, play that
character.
Comic books in general are starting to
push characters in the direction of
being more diverse. Whether it be gay,
straight, black, white, whatever it is,
they're changing the old guard of heroes
to a more modern version of them. It
should be a reflection of like what our
society looks like today. Hopefully in
the future that actually changes
people's mentalities toward these
characters and what you can be. It's a
powerful thing when you can look at a
character and go, "That's me." It gives
you the idea that you actually do
anything. If you actually can identify
with someone that can do anything.
Normally there's this awkwardness around
disability,
but with that costume on there that
changed how people saw my son. They saw
him first before they saw his
disability. It just helps break down
that barrier.
Magic Wheelchair is a nonprofit that
builds epic costumes for amazing kiddos
in wheelchairs.
Magic Wheelchair started when my son was
3 years old. Halloween rolled around and
he wanted to be a pirate. We're new to
the whole disabilities and wheelchair
thing. We didn't know anything about
spinal muscular atrophy.
I saw him sitting in his wheelchair and
that we could dress him up as a pirate,
be a pirate in a wheelchair and let's
let's build a ship.
We have made probably about 40 different
costumes. We have teams right now all
over the country. We have a team in
France and working on a team in
Australia. We're just going to keep on
boarding teams cuz we want to build year
round.
It's harder to build for people that are
in wheelchairs, but it ultimately starts
with the kid. It's whatever they want to
be and then we make it a reality.
Halloween was kind of our initial push,
but we're seeing like Comic-Con, right?
And what's cool about that community of
cosplay, that's a very supportive
community.
the the cold reality of childhood
diseases are some of them won't be
around for next Halloween. So, let's
find something that we can do while
they're here with us. So, they have
these
[Music]
that they have these great memories and
that their
their families have memories when
they're gone.
It's almost like a cure for the day cuz
they don't see the wheelchair. to just
see these amazing kids and it bridges
gaps and overcomes that awkwardness that
we have in society.
I
mean, they're star of the show. Oh, it's
awesome to see.
[Music]
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