Marvel is trying to push hard on America Chavez. I don't care about the character that much, since she's a "one note gay faux Latina steteotype"... I'm not going to complain about her Superboy Prime levels of Mary Sue Powers or being from the planet of the Space Lesbians...
My issue is that Marvel has the gall of calling her a Puerto Rican superhero... newsflash, she IS NOT PUERTO RICAN. How do I know? Well, being an ACTUAL PUERTO RICAN, I can tell you she is NOT one. First let's define WHAT IS A PUERTO RICAN
Puerto Rican: A Person Born and Raised in Puerto Rico.
America Chavez is none of that...
A Naturalized Puerto Rican: is a Person born somewhere else, but raised in Puerto Rico.
America was raised in the Utopian Parallel and The Bronx... Her foster parents were raised in The Bronx, NOT Puerto Rico .. so that makes her by default a 3rd Generation New Yorker... which means, she's as "Puerto Rican" as The Statue of Liberty. She has no real ties to Puerto Rico, other than the Spanish speaking writer puts Spanish words in her speech bubbles. Had she been raised in Puerto Rico she could've gotten a pass, like Kal-El from the Distinguished Competition does. It's not because he's white. Kal-El is a Naturalized Kansan. Because he WAS RAISED IN KANSAS. He wasn't raised in California by Kansan parents. He was raised in Kansas by Kansan parents. America is a Naturalized New Yorker. Raised in New York by New Yorker parents with Puerto Rican heritage. If I wanted to be generous, I could call her a Third Generation Nuyorican.
Anya Corazón
White Tiger, Hector Ayala, IS a REAL Puerto Rican superhero... Born and Raised in San Juan, then moved to New York.
Angela del Toro, neice of Hector is a Nuyorican.
Ava Ayala, Hector's sister is of Puerto Rican ancestry. Not sure if actual Puerto Rican, or if born in the States.
Miles Morales and Anya Corazón have weaker ties to Puerto Rico, since they're both 3rd generation. Unlike America,they have a bond by blood. In Anya's case, the ties are weaker than Miles's, since she has to deal with 3 cultures... (Mexican, Puerto Rican and New Yorker cultures) whiel Miles only has 2 (New Yorker and Puerto Rican). America doesn't have that.
The harsh truth is that Nuyoricans are not Puerto Rican. They have this fantastical notion of what it means to be Puerto Rican... not based on reality, but on rose tinted nostalgia from their parents. A Third Generation New Yorker with Puerto Rican heritage is receiving a diluted rose tinted version of an already diluted rose tinted version of Puerto Rican culture. They can LOVE Puerto Rico, the heritage and the culture, but they ARE NOT Puerto Rican.
So, coming back to America Chavez... an interdimensional being, adopted by second generation New Yorkers with Puerto Rican ancestry, living in The Bronx... There is Absolutely no way she can BE PUERTO RICAN!! The fact that Marvel CLAIMS she is one is Absolutely wrong. America Chavez is appropriating Puerto Rican culture and that is offensive to actual Puerto Ricans.
She can be Nuyorican at best, but not Puerto Rican. Right now she's being written as a super powered lesbian parody of Rosie Perez.
The saddest part is that her character was tarnished by writer Gabby Rivera, who made Ms. Chavez into the Lesbian Rosie Perez caricature she is now known as. But Ms. Chavez can be saved by toning down the faux Puerto Ricanness, by having her struggle with her overpowered nature and her lack of identity... maybe even nerf her, since she's ridiculously Overpowered. She probably could've beaten Knull onnher own. With that said, many characters get bad runs. But with America's case, her bad run was due to bad writing by a writer that is a Lesbian Nuyorican who was only chosen to write America because she happened to be a Lesbian Nuyorican.
I guess we might get a Marvel Legends figure of her sometime soon... I mean, Ironheart has been trickling down recently. And yes, I probably will buy her.
Marvel, if you want to make more Puerto Rican heroes, have them be more like Hector Ayala, Miles Morales, or Anya Sofia Corazón and less like America Chavez... they can be gay, straight, cis, trans, etc... just give them REAL TIES to Puerto Rico instead of being gay Kal-El of Space Themyscira... who identifies as Puerto Rican.
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