So I've been watching Young Justice lately. Like most of my blogs, I feel like I should start with this: I LOVE YOUNG JUSTICE. It is not perfect, of course. Some of the episodes are a bit contrived and the characters act somewhat inconsistently at times, but by and large, it is an amazing and excellent homage to the characters and indeed the DC universe as a whole. It taps into a vastly unused character set and puts an interesting spin on many of the characters. However, I do have one thing about the show that bothers me, namely the character of Kaldur'am, aka Aqualad.

Yet another qualification and ass-covering statement: I actually like Kaldur'am. He's a well realized character with depth and personality all his own. He's a fairly untapped commodity, the sort of...hyper loyal, soft-spoken, gentle soul that comic books and comic book-related television shows do not generally utilize. He fades somewhat into the background, but that adds to his mystique because he's genuinely interesting despite it. And the fact that the writers made him the leader of the team over the obvious choice (Robin) and the manner in which they did so adds yet more to his appeal. No, I genuinely like the character, but I have one problem with him. He's black.

OMG REID IS RACIST! Yeah, yeah, get it out of your system. I am in full agreement with the general consensus that comic books (indeed, much popular media) needs more strong black characters. In many ways, Kaldur'am is actually almost what this dilemma needs...but his very existance, in many other ways, is an afront to this problem. Here's the problem. Aqualad is an established character: Garth (he has no last name). Anyone who has watched Young Justice knows Garth because he appeared in an episode, which was an interesting one, to be sure, considering who Garth really is. And this is why we have problems. Dick Grayson is still Robin in Young Justice. Connor is still Superboy. Wally West is still kid flash. Roy Harper is still Speedy. But Garth is not Aqualad. No, Kaldur'am is Aqualad. And he's black.

I am not a racist. I am not a racist. I am not a racist. Yes, I said I have a problem with Kaldur'am because he's black, but I was mostly saying that for shock value. Again, Kaldur'am is an amazing character and a worthy Aqualad. But the fact that they switched Garth out, when no other character had been switched out, and reimagined Aqualad is suspicious enough...the fact that they made him black positively screams "token racial diversity."

"But Reid, how can any diversity be such a bad thing?" you may ask. To which I reply, "stop interrupting me with your stupid questions!"

Diversity is not bad perse, but diversity for diversity's sake is certainly counterproductive. Take a look at what I consider to be a fine example of a black superhero: Static. Static had a rather fun run on Kids WB for many years, and even showed up in the then-horrible Teen Titans comic book...one of the high points of many, many months of horror for the Titans. Let's compare Virgil Hawkins to Kaldur'am.

Virgil was, in many ways, stereotypical. He was middle class, he talked in constant slang, listened to hip hop music, had his hair done up in dreads, and faced a great deal of racially-charged issues during his life, from his friend's racist father to the constant threats of gang violence. Kaldur'am is the charge of Aquaman, King of Atlantis. He is a dutiful servant and ward (a sort of squire) to his king. He is a warrior through and through. Now, there is the obvious difference than Kaldur'am lives in the fantasy world of Atlantis, which is a much different sitting than the Detroit-esque city of Dakota, but this is actually the biggest problem I have with Kaldur'am. He's not African American. He's not even African. He's Atlantean...and there is no realistic reason for him to be black.

Now, let me give some necessary credit to WB/DC. They resisted the urge to make Dick Grayson or Wally West (or...ugh...Connor, who is supposed to be a CLONE of Superman) black in order to compensate for the discrepancy in race. Teen Titans' original comic book run was in the '60's. Racial diversity was not a concern of writers then. In fact, WB resisted even the urge to change ANY of the characters. Garth, the "real" Aqualad, is still around and he's still white. So, really, they chose the best possible character to be the "token black hero" on the team...but a "token black character" he is...largely because there is absolutely no way he could be black. Kaldur'am is Atlantean. Why is he black at all? Last time I checked, Atlanteans were white in the DC universe...and, realistically, there would be no possible way for any of them to have enough melanin in their skin to BE black. Virgil Hawkins' family is from Ghana. He is black, no question, and while the argument could be made that he was made black simply to add another black hero to DC's minuscule stable of black heroes, I have absolutely no issues with it. He's an original character, they have every right to make him whatever race they feel fits him. The fact that Kaldur'am is black flaunts REALITY so, besides being something that requires pretty substantial suspension of disbelief, it only cements the fact that he is black for no other reason than they needed a black hero...and that is the exact wrong reason to make the character black.

The other issue is Kaldur'am's personality. Virgil Hawkins often met with situations that arose simply because he was black. His personality was realized while keeping in mind that he was raised in an urban black community. Nothing about Kaldur'am's personality suggests that he was raised anywhere near a black community (when, in fact, he was not...he was raised in Atlantis). He's who he is, with absolutely no inkling towards race. He could be black or white. Hell, he could have been Asian. Or Martian. His "race" (black, not Atlantean) is utterly superfluous.

I'm rambling at this point, so I feel like I should wrap things up by reiterating a few points, firstly that I do like Kaldur'am as a character. The issue isn't that I don't like him. It's not even that he replaced Garth as Aqualad. The issue is that they made him black not only for no reason, but in complete defiance of realism and plausibility. They made him black when the fact that he is black has absolutely nothing to do with his character, simply because they had on their hands a blank slate and decided that the show needed some racial diversity. Of course, the argument could be made that a black character does not need to scream "black." Dick Grayson and Wally West easily could be black because little of their personality screams white. But that does not excuse the replacement of a pre-existing white character with a black one simply for diversity's sake (ESPECIALLY when you consider that they had at least two perfectly good options: Static and Cyborg, the latter of whom is one of the strongest black characters in DC's stable).