8:35am August 1, 2014

“When I do charity events dressed as Batgirl, all the children of color are absolutely overjoyed. They literally embrace me and I can see them realize that their own race and skin color is not a hindrance to their creativity, as everything they see and experience has been telling them ever since they were old enough to process media.
The white children are hesitant and some attempt to quiz me or insist that I’m not ‘right’ or ‘real’. They are repeating what they have been told and what they have seen all their lives. I explain that Batman believes that anyone can be a hero if they are a good person and work hard, no matter what they look like. So of course Batgirl and Robin can be Black or Chinese or Spanish or anything, because that doesn’t change who they are.
The kids accept this and by the end of the event we’re all holding hands and talking about video games. I think representation is more important than ‘accuracy’ and I won’t be involved with an organization that doesn’t agree with that.”

Jay Justice, on whether costumers who dress for charity events should only portray characters ‘accurately’ or not, with implications that ‘accuracy’ means that a non white person should limit themselves to canonical characters of color. (via msjayjustice)

Jay Justice is more Batgirl than anyone I know.

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