“The thing about Captain America, he is not the American reality; he is the embodiment of the American dream. A great Captain American story lives in the gap between the reality and the dream, which we all know that some years, it’s really, really big, and some years, it closes a little bit—but there’s always a big gap.”
This is a quote from this year’s annual Marvel Comics Pride issue, in an interview with legendary Jewish comic book author, J.M. DeMatteis. But why does it appear in Marvel’s Pride issue? Because it was during DeMatteis’ early 80’s tenure as the writer of Captain America that he created the character of Arnie Roth – Steve Rogers’ Jewish friend since childhood, who was one of the first openly gay characters in comics history. In fact, just as in the MCU, tough guy Bucky Barnes protects the scrawny Steve Rogers during their hardscrabble youth, in the comics, Arnie Roth is the bigger, tougher, kid, who always looks out for Steve, fighting any bullies that would try to pick on Rogers. Of course, it was Rogers, once he was given the super-soldier serum (created by German-Jewish scientist, Abraham Erskine) that led the charge against the Nazis in WWII, and even, according to the comics, liberated at least one concentration camp. But Arnie was also a war hero, serving with distinction in the Pacific Theater, sometimes even battling the Nazis and Hydra alongside Cap himself.
As I was reading this comic, I was also prepping for my weekly Clergy Connections zoom class that I teach every other week opposite Rabbi Lee. In honor of Pride Month, the theme was set to be LGBTQ Jewish Icons. One of the heroes I was planning on focusing on was Harvey Milk, who, like Arnie Roth, was a trailblazer, becoming the first openly-gay man elected to office in California, and like Roth, he served in the Navy during wartime. Milk’s message was one of courage and hope, a message cut tragically short by his assassination after just 10 months in office. He was later posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama, and in July 2016, US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus advised Congress that he intended to name the second ship of the Military Sealift Command’s John Lewis-class oilers the USNS Harvey Milk. The ship launched in November, 2021. However, while prepping for my class, instead of pride, I felt rage, when our defense secretary vindictively announced during Pride month that he was making it a top priority to rename the Navy vessel named for Milk, and would also rename other vessels which had been named in honor of civil rights heroes, including the navy vessel named for Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
In the Marvel Pride issue, Captain America gives a speech at the dedication of the Arnie Roth Community Center – a queer community aid center founded and dedicated by Steve Rogers in memory of his dear friend and fellow veteran, Arnie Roth. In his speech, one of our greatest super heroes (created by Jewish comic writers Joe Simon and WWII veteran Jack Kirby) decries the unfair treatment of LGBTQ veterans by a bigoted administration: “They have tried very hard to make the world forget about people like Arnie. What he stood for. What he means to us now. They want to censor history. Rewrite the past. We won’t let them. The world knows the hero. I was lucky enough to know the man. And I wouldn’t be who I am without him. None of us would.”
May we continue to raise our voices – during Pride month and year-round, against the erasure of Jewish American heroes. We will not let history be forgotten or rewritten. We know who our heroes are, and we will protect their legacies against hatred and ignorance. That is how we will fight for the survival of the American Dream, even when it seems farther away than ever.
Cantor Eric
