Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #106 (Part 4): I AM CURIOUS BLACK
When last we read: Lois turned herself into a foxy black woman so she
could experience the slums for herself and win a Pulitzer.
Immediately, she begins to feel the chilling effect of prejudice.
Benny the Beret won't pick her up in his cab. People in the subway
stare at her (well, they would've if the artist had drawn it that
way). It's very disconcerting for Lois but she soldiers on, determined
to get her story. And now here's Part 4 of I AM CURIOUS BLACK!
What will Lois do now that she's a black woman in the 'hood? What she
did the first time -- she wanders into a tenement to find someone to
interview. But oh no! She sees smoke behind the stairs. Quickly, she
beats the flames down on a pile of trash stashed under the stairs.
A woman comes out and, seeing the heroic black Lois beating down the
flames, decides to chat. I'm pretty sure it's the same woman
white-Lois tried to talk to when she got a door slam as an answer.
Looks like the same dress. (Lois can change her entire race, but this
woman can't even change her clothes. An indication of poverty or a
shortcut to clueing us in that she's the same person? Okay, they're
not that deep - it's the shortcut thing.)
She tells Lois that the place is a firetrap and people leave trash
there because the "slumlord" doesn't want to pay for a janitor.
(Apartments have janitors? My apt. doesn't have a janitor. I have to
haul my own trash outside, down some stairs, across a patio, down more
stairs, through a hall, and into the garage where the bin is. My
slumlord sucks! She also refuses to heat the swimming pool! Dirty,
rotten slumlord.)
Slum Lady invites Lois into her apartment and offers her a cup of
coffee. She makes a joke about hoping Lois isn't a bill collector (the
fact that she lives in a tenement and has a slumlord wasn't proof
enough. We needed more clues that it just might be possible that she's
low on funds).
Okay, so Slum Lady has obviously told us everything we need to hear.
Trash in the hallway, slumlord, bill collectors, no money, we got it.
Who's next?
No one. We're still at Slum Lady's (I'm tired of typing Slum Lady.
From now on she's SL) apartment. A piece of plaster from the ceiling
falls into Lois's coffee. ("I said cream, no sugar, no plaster."). SL
tells Lois that around there you get used to falling plaster. And the
place hasn't been painted in eons. "But I don't have to tell you
that!" Yes, apparently she did. By Lois's shocked expression, she had
no idea that some people were poor.
Surely that's enough, right? Nah ah! SL hears her baby calling. She
grabs a broom and chases a rat away from the crib.
As she comforts the child, she says to Lois, "I haven't asked who you
are, or what you're here for. Can I help you, sister?" Lois, tears
brimming, thinks, "She lives in misery, yet she asks if she can help
me!"
Let's sum it up again folks. SL has trash in the hallway, a slumlord,
bill collectors, no money, falling plaster, old paint, and rats. The
evidence is really mounting toward the conclusion that SL is poor. But
she's nice to black women (she slams the door in the faces of white
women, but gives a sister a cup of coffee and an offer of help). Has
Lois finally learned what she needed to?
Yes and no. She leaves SL, but she still has plenty of experiences
ahead of her. Being black isn't defined by being poor. Lois needs to
keep exploring Little Africa.
Posted by Joanna Sandsmark at 1:58 AM
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