{"id":14157,"date":"2011-05-11T21:23:38","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T04:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reallifesuperheroes.org\/?p=14157"},"modified":"2011-05-11T21:23:38","modified_gmt":"2011-05-12T04:23:38","slug":"superheroes-swoop-in-to-fight-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/2011\/05\/11\/superheroes-swoop-in-to-fight-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Superheroes swoop in to fight crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted: http:\/\/www.goldengatexpress.org\/2011\/05\/11\/superheroes-swoop-in-to-fight-crime\/<\/a>
\nBy [X]press Staff<\/a>
\nThe sights and sounds of a riot filled the streets on a chilly night in Oakland when suddenly, strange figures emerged from an alley. Covered in glass and grime and with only their eyes visible, they glowed in the mad light of the city.
\nIn the middle stood a man clad in a Kevlar vest, combat boots, and a mask covering the lower half of his face, with Taser knuckles glowing on his right fist.
\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d someone shouted.
\nThe voice behind the mask looked at them and calmly replied, \u201cWe are real-life superheroes.\u201d
\nThis is not a story from the pages of a comic book, but one of real people all over the country<\/a> who dress up and fight for their community. These self-described superheroes have found a variety of different ways to help their neighborhoods, from organizing blood drives to feeding the homeless. They use their costumes as a way to draw attention to the cause.
\nPeter Tangen, a Hollywood photographer and the de facto spokesman as well as expert on Real Life Superheroes, calls the people who participate in the movement \u201ca perfect cross section of America.\u201d
\nLike many denizens of the comic book pages, Motor Mouth<\/a>, 30, of Oakland, who declined to give his \u201ccivilian\u201d name, started out as just an average citizen. Then \u201cfan boy\u201d read a comic that changed his life.
\nThat comic was \u201cKick-Ass\u201d by Mark Millar<\/a>, which tells the story of a boy who chooses to dress up and fight crime in his neighborhood. Motor Mouth was instantly attracted to the \u201cpoor man\u2019s Batman\u201d aspect of the comic and intrigued by the notion of people in the real world using superhero identities to better their community.
\nMotor Mouth then did what any comic book lover would do and turned to the Internet. There he found the world of RLSH and knew that he wanted to be a part of it.
\nThe idea of concealed identities and community crusaders is not a new idea, but activity often spikes when the country in times of upheaval, and according to the RLSH website, there are currently several thousand such activists in the country.
\nThe presence of superheroes, real or fictional, is something that Tangen sees as a reflection of the national mood.
\n\u201cIt can be seen even as far back as World War II,\u201d Tangen said. \u201cPeople need a hero. There is a need to see someone who stands for something right and good. The world around them is losing some of their priorities.\u201d
\nMotor Mouth attributes his desire to help his community to childhood experiences.
\nBorn to medical worker parents, the need to help others was ingrained in him from a very early age. In his youth, he would often stop school bullies from intimidating other students.
\n\u201cI think too many people in this world nowadays allow for too much gray area,\u201d Motor Mouth said. \u201cWhen the reality is, bad is bad and good is good.\u201d
\nTangen agreed with that statement.
\n\u201cApathy exists, but these people are people who reject that idea,\u201d Tangen said.
\nMotor Mouth, along with members of a larger group called \u201cThe Pacific Protectorate\u201d often take it upon themselves to go on missions in some of the city\u2019s worst neighborhoods at night to facilitate activities ranging from calling police to report drug deals, to breaking up bar fights, or as was the case in January 2009, participate in inhibiting the madness that was the Oakland riots.
\nOver the course of that night, Motor Mouth and his team stopped teenagers from using a battering ram on a building (with the help of Motor Mouth\u2019s non-lethal Taser knuckles) and saved a woman from an exploding building.
\nWhen asked if he was afraid at any point during this night, Motor Mouth laughed.
\n\u201cIn order to be a real life superhero you have to take the fear that may be inside of you and manifest it into something that\u2019s useful,\u201d Motor Mouth said.
\nOfficer Holly Joshi of the Oakland Police Department said these groups have been useful to the community and\u00a0said that she appreciates their efforts.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re on the right track,\u201d Joshi said. \u201cCitizens have a responsibility to protect their community, it\u2019s not just a police issue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Motor Mouth fights criminals and saves women from burning buildings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[638,901,1417,1747,1904,2173,2305,2555],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}