Bishop's racial identity- Black American or American of Aboriginal AU descent?

[mace11]

How do you think Bishop should be handled going forward with regard to his racial identity? Because Whilce Portacio's intention was to make him Filipino like himself, but editorial suggested making him black American because the X-Man had more black American fans. So he was a black American character. And that was pretty clear to everyone. But he was later retconned to be of Aboriginal Australian descent. Which only makes sense if you lump Aboriginal Australians in with Subsaharan Africans because of their skin color.

This came out a few years ago.
Herodotus on Ancient Africa: There is no Sub-Saharan Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

In this episode Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy guides us into not only ancient Africa but also specifically North Africa and brings up the history of a commonly used and misused term that we constantly see today and that is the term "Sub-Saharan."
She not only gives us a history of the term but how it is used to often whitewash or erase black Africans and their presence in North Africa and its history.

Herodotus on Ancient Africa: There is no Sub-Saharan

and
Colorlines in Classical North Africa
https://rfkclassics.blogspot.com/201...th-africa.html

[IN-a-Synch]

i remember I saw a rumor a long time ago that Madrox and M were either Bishops grandparents or parents. But they never seemed to dig into his parents. Hopes either.

[KurtW95]

Herodotus on Ancient Africa: There is no Sub-Saharan

and
Colorlines in Classical North Africa
https://rfkclassics.blogspot.com/201...th-africa.html

The source is a white woman, who Google says is an Associate Professor of Classics, Women's and Gender Studies, and Environmental Studies. Hardly an anthropologist. And I have yet to meet a single black person who finds the term offensive. It's on all the ancestry tests. I used it because I know that there are other people who identify as black, but am referring to people who look like black Americans. And my personal stance is that Bishop should be black and the retcon to make him Aboriginal Australian was random and unneeded.

i remember I saw a rumor a long time ago that Madrox and M were either Bishops grandparents or parents. But they never seemed to dig into his parents. Hopes either.

I never heard that rumor and it makes no sense. M is a quarter black, a quarter white, and half Algerian. If they were Bishop's parents, he would hardly look black at att.

[Thirteen]

I wondered about where Lucas Bishop falls ethnically these days in light of the recent miniseries where he finds himself on the Black Timeline in the Multiverse (BlackVerse?) and the creators seem to be going for African-American as his heritage. So good to see the matter discussed.
Although the Liefeld variant cover gives Bishop hair texture that would play more into his Aboriginal ethnic heritage, if it still is in canon.

[Chris0013]

Black American with Aboriginal ancestors.

[shooshoomanjoe]

How do you think Bishop should be handled going forward with regard to his racial identity? Because Whilce Portacio's intention was to make him Filipino like himself, but editorial suggested making him black American because the X-Man had more black American fans.

Does this mean that Bishop was a Filipino in his first appearance? Because he didn't look Filipino and he's too tall to be one of the Negrito groups.

[KurtW95]

Does this mean that Bishop was a Filipino in his first appearance? Because he didn't look Filipino and he's too tall to be one of the Negrito groups.

No. It was all coordinated prior to his debut.

[H-E-D]

Cerebro's episode on Eden Fesi and Gateway digs into this; the feature guest themselves is of mixed African and Aboriginal descent, so they end up touching upon Bishop's heritage as a concept. It's worth a listen!

[KurtW95]

No thanks. Every X-Men podcast I've heard about is awful. And I've heard about it.

[wlfking]

Shame to hear Mr. Portacio wasn't allowed to make the character he wanted to originally. Hopefully nowadays he will get to do just that if he hasn't already.

Always thought Bishop was black and probably American? I think I only learned about the Aboriginal thing recently but I can't remember where from.

I was enjoying the Cerbro podcast until dude went on about how people should like Moira now that she's more relevant. Ticked me off. And I'm not even all that against her portrayal. Just don't like people trying to tell others how to feel about freaking entertainment.

Gah. Back to Bishop. Just giving him one Aboriginal parent and one African parent works for me.

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

I always thought of Bishop as being the first truly post-racial X-man. Like yeah, he's black, obviously, but he's from an era where humanity is so absolutely fucked, that no one gives a damn about racial hatred anymore. We're all too busy holding hands and going off into oblivion thanks to the machines.

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

It's incredible. By all rights, with the countless hours he's put into his work over a career spanning thirty years in the industry, Rob Liefeld should be a master-level illustrator by now.
And yet, somehow...

Edit*

Seriously! Look at that Bishop, he drew! Bro's nostrils aren't even aligned! I can't look away! And yet, somehow, I must!

Double edit**

Okay, also, his head is huge, he has no neck, his eyes are crooked, he has baby t-rex arms, and his crotch is BULGING!

Triple edit***

What is that gun? What IS it? It's an energy weapon? Why would a laser gun smoke? Smoke from a barrel is caused by gunpowder being discharged. LASERS DON'T HAVE GUNPOWDER. And why does the end of that gun look like WALL-E's face?

[marhawkman]

I always thought of Bishop as being the first truly post-racial X-man. Like yeah, he's black, obviously, but he's from an era where humanity is so absolutely fucked, that no one gives a damn about racial hatred anymore. We're all too busy holding hands and going off into oblivion thanks to the machines.

Oh yeah, that's where the melting pot thing goes. Various ethnicities just living together and not giving a --- about whatever divisions people keep using as part of power struggles.

[Kingdom X]

The source is a white woman, who Google says is an Associate Professor of Classics, Women's and Gender Studies, and Environmental Studies. Hardly an anthropologist. And I have yet to meet a single black person who finds the term offensive. It's on all the ancestry tests. I used it because I know that there are other people who identify as black, but am referring to people who look like black Americans. And my personal stance is that Bishop should be black and the retcon to make him Aboriginal Australian was random and unneeded.

I never heard that rumor and it makes no sense. M is a quarter black, a quarter white, and half Algerian. If they were Bishop's parents, he would hardly look black at att.

Yeah I thought the rumor was that M and Synch were Bishop’s ancestors. There’s a panel in Gen X were Bishop is regaining consciousness and mistakes Monet for his mother.

[Anodyne]

I would just split the difference and make one parent African-American, the other Aboriginal Australian. He would still look the same.

That also works for me. Not Gateway's son; when the X-Men met Gateway in the 1980s, he was an old man whose children and grandchildren, if any, would surely have already been born. Great-grandson, maybe; or even great-great, depending on how far in the future Bishop comes from.