Surely some revelation is at hand
Rumors have abounded since the incident with Stryker. The media isn't sure what to make of it. Among other things, footage taken by campers appeared on youtoob of some sort of ruckus in Westchester, New York, of teenagers in uniform flying over the treetops and explosions and whatnot, leading many to wonder if the school for "gifted" youngsters in that area is for youngters with some interesting gifts.
Furthermore, known mutant supporter Charles Xavier was seen by many leaving the church where Stryker was taken into police custody...
This press conference is the start. It's the start of something new. They can try to live in secret, hush things up, feed the rumors and fan the flames of paranoia with more hiding away in their Mansion. They can do that.
Or they can admit the truth that's easy enough to see.
The crowd of reporters practically vibrates with questions as Charles Xavier wheels himself near the microphone.
"--what's really going on at that school of yours--?"
"--why were you seen at the site of Stryker's apprehension by the police--?"
There's one very pertinent question, by Betty Brant, for the Daily Bugle, that isn't a proper news question--just a good question. "Professor Xavier--who are you, really, sir?"
When they're hushed, he speaks, and it marks a change.
"My name is Charles Xavier, and I am a mutant."
***
A mother goes on a news show to talk about her ten children, all but two of whom are mutants, her face blurred out not because of shame but because in her own words, she dare not expose them to more danger. She talks about how her one son was attacked and nearly killed a few years ago, how their home was destroyed, her babies nearly burned alive by Purifiers.
She talks about how the one that'd been attacked and lost his girlfriend was kidnapped, tortured, and strung up in Times Square.
She doesn't cry until explains how two of her sons got badly hurt during Stryker's madness, and how even though the one of them that's worst off is stable, he might might never wake up.
"Ma'am, I was told there was a song you wanted to have broadcast."
"My son--one of his--one of his gifts is the most beautiful voice you ever heard. He recorded this for me."
"When we heard you were coming on the show, we took other reports we'd received--other parents--that lost children to the attacks. Lost husbands and sons as they were turned into these Prime Sentinels. And what we're going to do tonight is play your son's song--in it's entirety--along with what we've prepared with pictures and names of these other victims."
The recording starts.
"Mama, consider this an early Mother's Day present." A laugh. "I don't think I'm gonna be able to wait until May to give it. I've been practicing and I know you like the song. So this is for you, because--because I know you worry about me sometimes, after everything that's happened. And I just want you to know you don't have to worry anymore."
Nightline plays it in full, the song of a quiet, kind boy singing in harmony with himself, flashing pictures of innocent people that died for no reason at all than blind hate and pointless stupidity.
At the end is a mother's mournful plea, "Why do they keep trying to take my children away from me? We don't want a thing from anyone, we stick to ourselves. Why can't they just let us be in peace?"
Clips of it hit youtoob the next day. The hits are within the thousands and thousands before long.
***
Headlines that week are interesting. The government is in talks to get Sentinels around the school, for their protection, but there's a good chance all that's going to result in is a hearty "Fuck no." The idea of a mutant school and a base of operations for the mutant "terrorists" the X-Men, has some blathering on about the usual threats to society and whatnot.
But the overall trend in the media is...different this time. Of all newspapers, the oft-disrespected Bugle leads the way.
***
Change is inevitable--or at least it used to be
Editorial by Phil Urich
As a reporter, I've seen a fair number of horrifying and gruesome sights in my lifetime, some worse than others. As a reporter, I've done what a reporter does, presenting the facts with as much of an objective outlook as possible, even in editorials, where logic and reason should still guide the opinions of even the most torqued-up muckraker.
Back in October, I had the infinitely ill fortune to be walking through Times Square the morning a young mutant, who'd been mutilated and had his wings cut off, was crucified on a 'Got Milk?' billboard like some sort of macabre new ad campaign. Others at this fine newspaper handled the Editorials then, after I'd written the cover page piece on the incident. At the time, I was at a loss for words, wondering why such a thing happens, wondering how our society could be in such condition as to never learn from past mistakes.
What most don't remember is a similar incident occurred back in January, to a young man named Andrew Redfield, aged 18, on the sign at the campus of Empire State University. Redfield didn't survive. What most never bothered to pay attention to were reports of homeless mutants being poisoned en massed by mysterious "volunteer" workers handing out food laced with lethal overdoses of veterinary sedatives. The story was relegated to page ten or so in most papers.
Back during the Times Square incident, I couldn't find the words, because I had realized something about this country I wished I hadn't. Despite everything that had ever been done, despite the Civil Rights movement, despite American soldiers seeing the full weight and horror of the Holocaust during World War II when liberating concentration camps like Buchenwald, despite the recent horrors perpetrated under the nose of American citizens--twice over--by the Red Skull, we have progressed no further as a society, we have apparently not learned from our mistakes as a people.
As of today, approximately 205 innocent people around the world are dead from an attempt at mass genocide that was foiled by the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and untold numbers of heroes that rose up and fought against them. The mutant neighborhood District X would have been obliterated if not for the mutants that stood up to protect their neighbors, a young non-mutant teenage boy that had hijacked a Sentinel for his own use and risked his life to protect innocents, and a group of police officers that stopped at nothing to defend the lives of the citizen on their beat, regardless of genetic differences.
What is it that these people know that the rest of society seems to have difficulty understanding? Where is the outrage at a charismatic man preaching an ideology of hatred and persecution, attempting the mass genocide of an entire group of people?
Even now, some newspapers clamor to defend the actions of a madman and the militant cult of personality that formed around him and formed around the eradication of an entire group of people, they attempt to defend a group of individuals who tried to supersede the authorities of this country by force and surprise.
When the public finds men like William Stryker reasonable, our country has something to fear--that change isn't possible, that we have no and cannot learn from the mistakes of the past. There is no other concept more horrifying.
Today, I have at last found the words I was searching for back in August, what I was thinking when I had heard someone in the crowd dismissing the horror before them as nothing:
I am afraid for America. I am afraid for its people.
I am afraid for humanity.
President calls for day of mourning and reflection for the dead killed in Stryker's Crusade
In an address to the country last night, after the Stryker incident, President Obama has called for American citizens to reflect on the nature of the treatment of mutants in the country. Obama stated that he wishes for his administration to open up lines of communication with mutant community leaders to prevent the escalation of threats like Stryker's Army in the future.
"The fourteenth amendment is meant to protect all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," Obama quoted from the Constitution. "'No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' Clearly, we have a problem here, if individuals are taking it on themselves to impugn the basis rights to life guaranteed to all U.S. citizens."
"We live in a democratic nation, we have a Constitution that is mean to protect the rights of all citizens in this country, regardless of race, regardless of gender--there is no logical reason to believe this protection should not extend to those of a different genetic orientation. Some have argued that mutants, by the nature of their differences are not human, but that is an old and shameful argument that reared its head in another dark time in our nation's history, and we cannot let it be used to rationalize injustice again."
Obama's statements have garnered criticism from some conservative pundits (continued on page 4A)
X-Men: Mutant menace or benevolent metas?
Stryker's campaign of attempted genocide ends with 205 dead, more injured.
"I was brainwashed into a cult!" The story of one woman's indoctrination into Stryker's anti-mutant cult of personality.
Terrorists stopping terrorists? Are the X-Men on our side?
Grieving woman speaks out after the death of her husband and mutant daughter at the hands of Stryker's Army
***
It's subtle, but the tides are changing. The question is now: can it be made even better? Can this tentative peace and air of progress even be simply maintained?
And is it worth the price paid and the price some mutants may still yet have to pay?
Furthermore, known mutant supporter Charles Xavier was seen by many leaving the church where Stryker was taken into police custody...
This press conference is the start. It's the start of something new. They can try to live in secret, hush things up, feed the rumors and fan the flames of paranoia with more hiding away in their Mansion. They can do that.
Or they can admit the truth that's easy enough to see.
The crowd of reporters practically vibrates with questions as Charles Xavier wheels himself near the microphone.
"--what's really going on at that school of yours--?"
"--why were you seen at the site of Stryker's apprehension by the police--?"
There's one very pertinent question, by Betty Brant, for the Daily Bugle, that isn't a proper news question--just a good question. "Professor Xavier--who are you, really, sir?"
When they're hushed, he speaks, and it marks a change.
"My name is Charles Xavier, and I am a mutant."
***
A mother goes on a news show to talk about her ten children, all but two of whom are mutants, her face blurred out not because of shame but because in her own words, she dare not expose them to more danger. She talks about how her one son was attacked and nearly killed a few years ago, how their home was destroyed, her babies nearly burned alive by Purifiers.
She talks about how the one that'd been attacked and lost his girlfriend was kidnapped, tortured, and strung up in Times Square.
She doesn't cry until explains how two of her sons got badly hurt during Stryker's madness, and how even though the one of them that's worst off is stable, he might might never wake up.
"Ma'am, I was told there was a song you wanted to have broadcast."
"My son--one of his--one of his gifts is the most beautiful voice you ever heard. He recorded this for me."
"When we heard you were coming on the show, we took other reports we'd received--other parents--that lost children to the attacks. Lost husbands and sons as they were turned into these Prime Sentinels. And what we're going to do tonight is play your son's song--in it's entirety--along with what we've prepared with pictures and names of these other victims."
The recording starts.
"Mama, consider this an early Mother's Day present." A laugh. "I don't think I'm gonna be able to wait until May to give it. I've been practicing and I know you like the song. So this is for you, because--because I know you worry about me sometimes, after everything that's happened. And I just want you to know you don't have to worry anymore."
Nightline plays it in full, the song of a quiet, kind boy singing in harmony with himself, flashing pictures of innocent people that died for no reason at all than blind hate and pointless stupidity.
At the end is a mother's mournful plea, "Why do they keep trying to take my children away from me? We don't want a thing from anyone, we stick to ourselves. Why can't they just let us be in peace?"
Clips of it hit youtoob the next day. The hits are within the thousands and thousands before long.
***
Headlines that week are interesting. The government is in talks to get Sentinels around the school, for their protection, but there's a good chance all that's going to result in is a hearty "Fuck no." The idea of a mutant school and a base of operations for the mutant "terrorists" the X-Men, has some blathering on about the usual threats to society and whatnot.
But the overall trend in the media is...different this time. Of all newspapers, the oft-disrespected Bugle leads the way.
***
Change is inevitable--or at least it used to be
Editorial by Phil Urich
As a reporter, I've seen a fair number of horrifying and gruesome sights in my lifetime, some worse than others. As a reporter, I've done what a reporter does, presenting the facts with as much of an objective outlook as possible, even in editorials, where logic and reason should still guide the opinions of even the most torqued-up muckraker.
Back in October, I had the infinitely ill fortune to be walking through Times Square the morning a young mutant, who'd been mutilated and had his wings cut off, was crucified on a 'Got Milk?' billboard like some sort of macabre new ad campaign. Others at this fine newspaper handled the Editorials then, after I'd written the cover page piece on the incident. At the time, I was at a loss for words, wondering why such a thing happens, wondering how our society could be in such condition as to never learn from past mistakes.
What most don't remember is a similar incident occurred back in January, to a young man named Andrew Redfield, aged 18, on the sign at the campus of Empire State University. Redfield didn't survive. What most never bothered to pay attention to were reports of homeless mutants being poisoned en massed by mysterious "volunteer" workers handing out food laced with lethal overdoses of veterinary sedatives. The story was relegated to page ten or so in most papers.
Back during the Times Square incident, I couldn't find the words, because I had realized something about this country I wished I hadn't. Despite everything that had ever been done, despite the Civil Rights movement, despite American soldiers seeing the full weight and horror of the Holocaust during World War II when liberating concentration camps like Buchenwald, despite the recent horrors perpetrated under the nose of American citizens--twice over--by the Red Skull, we have progressed no further as a society, we have apparently not learned from our mistakes as a people.
As of today, approximately 205 innocent people around the world are dead from an attempt at mass genocide that was foiled by the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and untold numbers of heroes that rose up and fought against them. The mutant neighborhood District X would have been obliterated if not for the mutants that stood up to protect their neighbors, a young non-mutant teenage boy that had hijacked a Sentinel for his own use and risked his life to protect innocents, and a group of police officers that stopped at nothing to defend the lives of the citizen on their beat, regardless of genetic differences.
What is it that these people know that the rest of society seems to have difficulty understanding? Where is the outrage at a charismatic man preaching an ideology of hatred and persecution, attempting the mass genocide of an entire group of people?
Even now, some newspapers clamor to defend the actions of a madman and the militant cult of personality that formed around him and formed around the eradication of an entire group of people, they attempt to defend a group of individuals who tried to supersede the authorities of this country by force and surprise.
When the public finds men like William Stryker reasonable, our country has something to fear--that change isn't possible, that we have no and cannot learn from the mistakes of the past. There is no other concept more horrifying.
Today, I have at last found the words I was searching for back in August, what I was thinking when I had heard someone in the crowd dismissing the horror before them as nothing:
I am afraid for America. I am afraid for its people.
I am afraid for humanity.
President calls for day of mourning and reflection for the dead killed in Stryker's Crusade
In an address to the country last night, after the Stryker incident, President Obama has called for American citizens to reflect on the nature of the treatment of mutants in the country. Obama stated that he wishes for his administration to open up lines of communication with mutant community leaders to prevent the escalation of threats like Stryker's Army in the future.
"The fourteenth amendment is meant to protect all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," Obama quoted from the Constitution. "'No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' Clearly, we have a problem here, if individuals are taking it on themselves to impugn the basis rights to life guaranteed to all U.S. citizens."
"We live in a democratic nation, we have a Constitution that is mean to protect the rights of all citizens in this country, regardless of race, regardless of gender--there is no logical reason to believe this protection should not extend to those of a different genetic orientation. Some have argued that mutants, by the nature of their differences are not human, but that is an old and shameful argument that reared its head in another dark time in our nation's history, and we cannot let it be used to rationalize injustice again."
Obama's statements have garnered criticism from some conservative pundits (continued on page 4A)
X-Men: Mutant menace or benevolent metas?
Stryker's campaign of attempted genocide ends with 205 dead, more injured.
"I was brainwashed into a cult!" The story of one woman's indoctrination into Stryker's anti-mutant cult of personality.
Terrorists stopping terrorists? Are the X-Men on our side?
Grieving woman speaks out after the death of her husband and mutant daughter at the hands of Stryker's Army
***
It's subtle, but the tides are changing. The question is now: can it be made even better? Can this tentative peace and air of progress even be simply maintained?
And is it worth the price paid and the price some mutants may still yet have to pay?