Captain America: Sam Wilson #18 Review – An Inconvenient Reality
I think that this issue may be the closest to #BlackLivesMatter the series will ever touch. I could be wrong about that, but this issue hits incredibly close to home without a police officer actually taking a black life. One can certainly draw a comparison between what happened to Rage last issue and Rodney King from the early 90s. But it’s more than the Americops beating Rage without asking him any questions that aligns with Rodney King. The division of the community, of black versus white, that really channels the aftermath of King. Fortunately, there are no riots yet, but I have a feeling there will be after Sam Wilson drops a truth bomb on the world.
The underlying themes in Captain America: Sam Wilson are hard to face, especially those that highlight the unfortunate divide between races. Those who will side with white simply because that side is white, as well as those who will side with black simply because that side is black. The all or nothing mentality is incredibly harmful for any cause, especially when people only see black and white instead of, well, people.
After Rage’s wrongful arrest, Sam tries to talk to him about helping him get out of the mess. He wants Peter Parker to help with bail, Matt Murdock to come to his defense, and he has a few other ideas to help. Rage wants none of it. He doesn’t want to get off scot-free due to relying on his rich friends. Since this trial will undoubtedly be high profile thanks to the Americops and the protests, he wants to stand trial like any other wrongfully arrested black man. He wants to use a public defender and show the world how hard it is for a black man wrongfully arrested to get the truth out there. Sam is okay with his decision, but he has his own ideas as well.
He has birds watching the Americops, and he can download their data and see what they see. What he sees is Rage telling the truth. Rage entered the pawn shop after he saw the window was broken. The real burglars ran off, and the Americops beat Rage into submission without asking what happened. They found him there, they assumed he did it. The big question is, would they have acted the same if they found a white person at the scene of the crime? If so, then there’s a whole different problem with the Americops, but it’s still a big problem. But, if they are indeed programmed to profile, then Harry Hauser is doing exactly what Sam feared: he’s dividing the country.
The question becomes, does he release this footage to the world and show what Hauser is hiding or does he submit it as evidence in the court of law? Everyone has their opinions on it, but Sam isn’t sure what to do. Unfortunately, he goes to the one person he’s always relied on for advice: Steve Rogers.
It broke my heart when Sam entered the precinct to try to visit Rage, and the old white officer at the front desk told him he wasn’t his Captain America. A black police officer hurried forward and let Sam come to the back. I wanted to shake that old man, even though he’s not real. It doesn’t matter if you disagree with a person’s stance in life; you still respect who that person is. You may not like Sam Wilson as Captain America, but you respect that Steve Rogers gave him that shield and move on. If Sam was threatening the guy or yelling at him that would be one thing, but all he wanted to do was visit his friend. There was no need to be so disrespectful to someone asking a simple question.
No question about it, Captain America: Sam Wilson is about to get ugly and in all of our faces about our inconvenient reality. I especially appreciate this story arc for showing how much we can’t rely on robots to police the country. More importantly, we can’t trust a private organization to police the country without bias.
Our Rating: YUS
Author: Nick Spencer
Artist: Daniel Acuña
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publish Date: 01/18/2017
Acquired via Purchase
