Aaron Pierre, Green Lantern John Stewart, and the Elephant in the Casting Room

When Green Lantern: The Animated Series dropped back in 2012. It was a banger that got robbed of more seasons. However, it gave me hope that a live action Green Lantern would soon come. It wasn’t soon at all. Green Lantern was in production pow for numerous years. We didn’t know if it would ever see the light of day, and if it did, would we get to see Green Lantern John Stewart or Green Lantern Hal Jordan in the lead. Twelve years later we have our answer as Aaron Pierre has been cast as John Stewart in HBO’s Green Lantern series Lanterns. After seeing Aaron Pierre in Rebel Ridge, where he portrays a military specialist in close quarters combat and firearms, it was impossible to not to think that it makes sense for him to portray Green Lantern John Stewart. He’s got the size, demeanor, and temperament. So while some are excited about the casting and rightfully so, there’s a hard-light construct elephant in the room that’s gotta be addressed about Green Lantern John Stewart. John Stewart is a dark-skinned superhero that will now be portrayed by an actor that has a lighter complexion. This is a thing that happens often with dark skinned characters when they move over to live action. It happens often with dark skinned black characters (Roberto De Costa), and even non Black poc characters (America Chavez). I said a thing that happens but let’s call it by name: colorism. A common occurrence in castings that effect not only dark skinned characters but dark skinned actors. However,…