#black bison

[comicpolls]

Favourite Indigenous Character: Round One Match Seventeen of Thirty-Two

Maya Lopez (Echo/Phoenix/Ronin)

Black-Cloud-In-Morning (Black Bison)

Voting ended onMay 3

[coolcomicbookcovers]

[transport-methodology-101]

European “Utility” version is this week’s special 🏁Black Bison Edition by Wald International ‼️

The Black Bison by Japanese tuner Wald International is an aftermarket styling and aerodynamic package offered for various luxury vehicles, including the 2012 Mercedes-Benz E-Class W212 series seen here. The kit features unique designs with LED lights and aerodynamic enhancements.

Not much detail on their website about this Black Bison Estate-Wagon though it appears to be an E63 AMG. Yet, upon checking the visual brake calipers, they reveal "Mercedes-Benz" printed on it by tradition and not "AMG” (if they were true AMG brake system), suggesting it's a “garden-variety” Benz wagon. The exhaust is an aftermarket D.T.M sports muffler which pro’ly has Mercedes folks seeing red. More detail here with more pics:- ⬇️ ⬇️

Wald International Pimps Out Mercedes-Benz E-Class Wagon

Check out this Mercedes-Benz E-Wagon modified by the folks at Wald International. What do you think?

[fortressofserenity]

A typology of indigenous character stereotypical roles

This may not always be the case for every fictional indigenous character in North American stories, not even consistently so, but it's kind of evident in the way they're portrayed. It's kind of evident in the way they're written in comparison to the white characters and non-indigenous characters in general, while it's getting better these days, it's still far from perfect.

Stuck in the past: While this is changing for the better, some North Americans (irrespective of ethnicity, unless if they're indigenous themselves) think that indigenous people only exist in the past. To the point where they kind of appropriate indigenous cultures, yet show no real interest in indigenous cultures and peoples themselves, due to this mentality that comes off as performative.

This is evident whenever there's a cowboy or colonialism themed story, oftentimes perpetuated by stories like almost any fictionalised take on Matoaka's story, The Road To El Dorado and possibly a few more. Like I said before, this is changing for the better. We're starting to have more stories featuring indigenous characters living in the present and even in the future like everybody else. These include Marvel's Dani Moonstar and DC's Dawnstar.

This is also evident in some romance novels featuring indigenous heroes at all, where it's almost always set in the past. They are unfortunately also sexualised and fetishised but that's for another topic.

The Sidekick: It seems until now, indigenous characters are only good if they are sidekicks to their white counterparts. I guess this is because if they ever show a backbone and stand up to white colonialism, they'll be immediately villainised if they do. This is the case with the earlier cowboy stories, most notably the Lone Ranger and its character Tonto. His real life female counterpart would be Sacagawea, especially in relation to Lewis and Clark.

This is unmistakably not a very threatening role, given the nature of settler colonialism where it seems indigenous people are only good if they kowtow to the settlers. This is beginning to decline in some later stories, though I'm afraid others still default to this portrayal. Like I said before that if Tonto's the preeminent fictional example of an indigenous sidekick to white people, Sacagawea could be seen as the real world indigenous sidekick to Lewis and Clark.

Even fictionalised portrayals of Matoaka fall into this in a way, where she's portrayed as being not too confrontational towards white settler colonialism. No wonder why she persists in the popular imagination and not Weetamoo.

The Enemy: The exact opposite of the sidekick where indigenous people are demonised if they don't kowtow to settler colonialism, it's also kind of demeaning because indigenous people are tired of racist mistreatment. It's kind of like this in some cowboy stories where if indigenous people do stand up to settler colonialism, they'll be maligned right away if they do. Not a good look when it comes to how Black Bison's portrayed in the Flash.

But this is not an isolated incident, since it kind of reflects white unease with indigenous people standing up to settler colonialism. It's not surprising how and why white cowboys are portrayed as getting rid of indigenous people, as if they don't deserve to live here even if they got there first. L Frank Baum, the creator of the Oz stories, has this mindset especially in nonfiction, where he demanded that Lakota people be killed. Terrible isn't it?

The Sex Object: One early encounter with this was in a short story anthology where this white female character makes out with an indigenous man, but this isn't an isolated case. It's like that with a number of romance novels featuring indigenous men at all, or more infamously their female counterparts in other stories. I remember somebody saying that white women fetishise indigenous men in a braves story of way.

Or for another another matter, Bernardo Spotted-Horse in the Anita Blake stories as pointed out by somebody else. It isn't just that they're scantily clad or whatever, but how they're fetishised for looking indigenous. This is the case in that story I mentioned, where the indigenous man is hot with his long hair down. This has unfortunately led to a lot of rape for many indigenous women and girls, including two that I know of online, which means this isn't good at all.

The way indigenous characters are fetishised for being indigenous is kind of disgusting, since this is one of the leading causes of MMIW. Another, better known, example is how Chel is portrayed in The Road To El Dorado where she's something of a sexualised accomplice to white colonisers. But you could also find this in romance novels featuring indigenous men at all.

The Plot Device: Cultural appropriation in action whenever somebody wants to either do pilgrims, cowboys or in the case with The Sentinel, get their powers from. It's a persistent problem that carries out in the real world where non-indigenous people appropriate bits and pieces of indigenous cultures and peoples, yet show no real interest in them themselves. Kind of performative, considering how indigenous people feel about this.

The Sentinel is one such example of this in speculative fiction, though one that also went largely unnoticed. The story involves some police officer who gains enhanced senses from an undisclosed indigenous community in South America, along with totem animals or something, but it's shocking how and why so little people talk about this. One would only wonder if this furthers the dehumanisation of indigenous cultures.

In the sense of their cultures being reduced to props for non-indigenous people to use, instead of something belonging to a living and breathing culture. This ties up with the stuck in the past meme, in the sense of treating indigenous people as artefacts. Rather than those who persist to the present day.

[doctorslippery]

[splooosh]

“The Bludgeoning”

Pat Broderick - Dick Giordano

[cgbcomics]

[pycnanthemum]

Mina Chaytan/Black Bison in Season 4 of The Flash (the one on Netflix with Grant Gustin) should have been given the "Leonard Snart Deal" of "she gets to keep doing what she's doing as along as she doesn't kill anyone".

Snart got the deal because he threatened to expose Barry, but like, you'd think Team Flash could learn something about creative ways to handle villians to save lives. And Snart is an actual thief! Black Bison is taking back things that were stolen from the Sioux Nation in the first place! And yes, murder is bad, but her motivations are much more reasonable than Snart's and they still made the choice to stop pursuing Snart for his murders.

Instead, Team Flash is all like "these things belong in a museum and we have no choice but to take you in for murder". Guys. You had a choice.

I realize that it was plot relevant that all the bus metas end up in prison for the Thinker to collect. But seriously, how easy would it have been for Team Flash to let her go and then someone else capture her later without their knowledge? (Very easy).

This would have even partially solved the other issues with how her character was treated regarding use of the Violent Activist and White Savior tropes (which others have already written about with much detail and eloquence).