“

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster [the creators of Superman] were ten years old when Senator Ellison DuRant Smith gave his famous “Shut The Door” speech on immigration in the lead up to the passage of the 1924 Immigration Act. The Senator claimed passing the act would allow the U.S. to “assimilate what we have, and let us breed pure American citizens and develop our own American resources.” The immigration act not only lowered the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S., it also barred immigration from any country whose citizens were deemed “non-white.” Had the act passed earlier, it would have prevented millions of southern and eastern European immigrants from coming to America, including the Siegels and Shusters. It’s passage in the 1920s would trap millions in an increasingly hostile Europe, on the eve of a frenzy of anti-Semitic genocide.

That is why, for 74 years Superman’s primary nemesis has not been another alien or superhero, but megalomaniacal xenophobic billionaire Lex Luthor. On multiple occasions, Luther has reiterated Senator Smith’s language, engaged in murderous, racially motivated vigilantism, and generally promoted the Nazi ideal of übermensch.

”

— Superman Is Jewish: The Hebrew Roots of America’s Greatest Superhero (via doriangravy)

10.07.15+  2340 via