I actually want to do something with Sam Lane, though I’d keep any questions fo the Lane’s ethnicities until the end.

Sam Lane. Colonel Sam Lane

Not a general. Not like Thunderbolt Ross from Marvel at all. Not a paranoid anti-meta or xenophobe... at least not enough to make that anything close to his largest character trait.

Sam Lane is a career Military Intelligence officer, especially in the area of assessing and interpreting intelligence. While he may someday rise to the level of general, he’s not someone who was ever fast-tracked for it, since he was from a poor family and struggled in school before enlistment thanks to an undiagnosed disability. Fortunately, he discovered he had an affinity for speaking languages and diplomacy in his first tour of duty, received a diagnosis for dyslexia that he then sought treatment for, and after working his ass off, managed to become a “mustang” officer in Intelligence at the rank of Major by the time his daughters were born.

This drive to overcome his disadvantages left him with a hard-driving and ambitious personality, as well as an empathy for others suffering dyslexia, which allows him to notice when his oldest daughter Lois was struggling, which he and his wife tackled with gusto very early in her academic career. Their encouragement and determination led to Lois developing a love of reading, even as difficult as it was, and both daughters Lois and Lucy being imparted with ambition, self-motivation and a stubborn drive.

Unfortunately, Sam lost his wife Ella before the girls excited their pre-teen days. Sam, a loving but fallible father, became a bit of a workaholic, with his daughters fighting to hold his attention. Lucy, who felt a bit forgotten in comparison to Lois, sought her dad’s attention via combat training, exceeding Lois in their numerous martial arts and combat classes. Lois, in response, sought to emulate her dad’s intelligence career, proving to have a natural knack for asking questions and forming rapport and trust with people in an analytical way. Sam was delighted at this for both his daughters, and enrolled them in military colleges geared towards their strengths.

...But Lois found herself frustrated and enraged by the social and political problems at her school, and began a pattern of “acting out” that was actually exposing staff and students misconduct on the internet, regardless of who it was she was exposing. And when Sam began focusing effort on Loos to try and teach her some more diplomatic attitudes, it both didn’t work and made Lucy jealous, causing her to act out. Both daughters got expelled, to Sam’s shame and sorrow. Lucy, feeling sorry, enlisted in the regular military just like her dad, and is on a course towards getting herself a “mustang” promotion to the officer corps like her old man. Lois... Lois doubled down and became a reporter, using her military interrogation and analysis training for her new career

Sam Lane became a Lt. Colonel before Superman made his appearance, and was attached to the observation and evaluation team that sought to classify Superman as a threat or asset, and prepare contingencies in case the former was proven true... which meant he was on the same team as Lex Luthor, hired as a private contractor. His work there saw him promoted to Major, and he now occupies an odd place, being someone who both vouches for Luthor’s contributions to their military while also being someone who advocates for treating Superman as an asset or ally.

The “two-faced” nature of this stance is something that aggravates Lois and maintains their tense and cool relationship, as it represents Sam’s pragmatism, cynicism, and yes, occasionally authoritarian instincts that clash against Lois’s often rebellious idealism and differently cynical nature. Still, anyone who tries to sabotage or scapegoat Sam Lane is in for a world of trouble, while any threat to Lois *will* see the Colonel bend the rules. Superman also becomes aware of this, and has a wary relationship with the Colonel, who tries to assure him he doesn’t fear an alien touching his daughter... he just fears a man who can fly at Mach 7 and rip steel apart with his bare hands touching his daughter.

Instead of representing xenophobia and reactionary paranoid, Sam Lane represents more the gray morality of power and authority in the US; he’s someone who Superman might debate a bit as to what “The American Way” means.

(And if the Lanes had their race changed, it would add another dimension to the family in this scenario, creating greater reasons why they might have a chip on their soldier, and why Lois may have some contempt for her father’s rule-abiding ways.)