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Graphic Policy Radio: X-Men and the MLK Legacy Roundtable

Re-presenting the podcast years later.

One of our most listened to episodes of Graphic Policy Radio discussed the X-Men and their use as an allegory of the civil rights, it covered the series throughout its many incarnations and writers. The discussion also veered into the depiction of minorities in “comic” entertainment and Marvel’s continuity. In honor of MLK Day, we present that podcast discussion.

Guests joining in on the conversation were:

  • Steve Attewell – A political & union activist, Steve holds a PhD in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the founder and writer of Race for the Iron Throne as well as The Realignment Project
  • David Brothers – David works for a comics publisher, blogs about stuff at 4thletter.net, & tweets about everything at @hermanos. Find his life story at iamdavidbrothers.com.
  • Gene Demby – Gene Demby is an American writer and journalist & the lead blogger for NPR’s Code Switch team.
  • Emma Houxbois – Emma is a queer blogger for hire out of Vancouver, BC most recently attached to Girls Read Comics. Follow her @emmahouxbois
  • Kendra James – a blogger who writes on race, comics, television & more for Racialicious, follow her @wriglied

You can listen to the archive above or go here and download it for on the go.

By Elana Levin

(Host Graphic Policy Radio/ GP Contributor) – Elana hosts Graphic Policy Radio, our podcast. Elana started reading comics in Jr. High by stealing her younger brother’s copies of X-Men. She immediately identified mutants as a metaphor for oppressed groups and used this to justify her interest in comics to her incredulous friends and relatives.

And has been doing so ever since.

A trained (but not particularly practicing) artist, Elana covers comics art and analyzes comics and the industry from a queer feminist and leftist perspective.

By day Elana leads trainings on digital strategy for nonprofit organizations and campaigns. She has lead fan activism trainings at political conferences and geek conferences alike. She has spoken about Jack Kirby for the SyFy network, The Jack Kirby Museum and hosted panels at NY Comic Con, FlameCon and AwesomeCon. Her critical work has appeared in The Daily Beast, Wired Magazine, The Guardian and the BBC.
She tweets, too much, at https://twitter.com/Elana_Brooklyn