The Rain City Superhero Movement: Freaks or Heroes?

Phoenix Jones

Yes. It’s true. My city has a superhero movement. The first time I heard about Phoenix Jones, founder and head vigilante of said movement, was last year. When I found out some black dude in a mask and tights was going around patrolling the streets to fight crime, I thought this dude is gonna get shot. Well apparently he has been stabbed (shortly before his first date with one of our other super heroes Purple Reign - halfway through dinner he had to go to the hospital, I digress) but Phoenix Jones is still very much alive and has since been joined by a coalition of mixed martial artists and former military personnel who have also donned masks.

“Anybody and everybody really should be standing up for themselves,” said Purple Reign when explaining what the movement was all about in an interview with Ken Goldstein. Phoenix first began patrolling after his car was broken into and his son was injured by falling on the broken glass. He reports that there were lots of eye witnesses, but no one did anything. More than fighting and preventing crime, Phoenix’s personal goal is also fighting the evils of apathy. “What we do is challenge apathy. It’s the biggest super villain you ever could meet,” he explained in a recent interview.



Tomahawk, Captain Karma, and Caballero downtown



Apparently these super people, complete with bullet proof ensembles, pepper spray and hand cuffs, go on patrol, though I’ve never seen them in my hood. In fact I had never really seen them at all until yesterday when I attended the May Day Immigration Reform march downtown. And there they were standing on the street corner looking both comical and somewhat menacing as they surveyed the crowd for any sign of dissidence. The three I met were newbies, Caballero, Captain Karma, and Tomahawk and frankly they seemed more excited about letting people take their picture than they did about actually doing anything. Apparently there was some brief altercation between them and some roving street clowns (http://mynorthwest.com/11/2265484/Seattle-superheroes-turn-out-for-May-Day- ), but nothing really happened until well after the rally had ended. Then, as is want to happen, a separate march of people more interested in violence and being morons than in advancing any legitimate political agenda attempted t

o break some windows and cause some chaos. Phoenix Jones, who apparently was at dinner with his wife at a nearby restaurant, arrived on the seen unmasked and did his part to keep the anarchists from breaking a window. The police handled the rest.

I was a little disappointed to have missed the crime fighting. I confess, I was looking for Phoenix throughout the march because I have some questions for him. So Phoenix Jones, if you’re out there…and apparently you are, I want to know what the game plan is for this movement and I also want to know if you guys plan on patrolling in Rainier Beach. Every time I hear about our super heroes they are in Capitol Hill or Downtown. Well, as the resident of what is considered a high crime area, I want to know should I be expecting them to be handling business.

More than that I am still a bit on the fence about the masked crime fighter thing. I mean I like the idea of fighting apathy. I feel like a big part of my career both in education and now in labor has been to inspire people to take some action, but this still seems a little crazy to me. Why not go through the channels already created? Become an FBI agent, become a ninja…why become a masked vigilante? A quick Google search reveals that these “super heroes” have actually stopped some break ins and broken up a few assaults. They have also been accused of making things worse at times. So I put it to the blerd community? What do you think? Freaks or heroes? Do you have super heroes in your city?

Reagan Jackson is a writer, artist, YA fiction aficionado, afro-punk, international educator, and community organizer based in Seattle, WA. You can find her most Tuesdays at the Seattle Poetry Slam or maybe just being nerdy at her favorite bookstores.