The Archie comics’ first gay character explains the meaning of each of the colors in the Pride flag (including the recent additions of black and brown), as other characters from the comic demonstrate.
The addition of black and brown originated with the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs’ 2017 More Color More Pride campaign and the new stripes were meant to represent people of color. The book, however, says black is for “diversity … It’s about embracing people of all different backgrounds, identities, races, and cultures.” Only after that does it tell us “The black stripe honors people of color.” Brown, it says, is for “inclusion … another way of saying we shouldn’t leave anyone out,” but people of color are not specifically mentioned.
While diversity and inclusion across many aspects of identity are a good thing, the black and brown stripes were intended to underscore a particular point about the inclusion of people of color, and to my mind should retain that meaning rather than be subsumed into a generic concept of diversity and inclusion. Yes, the page about black mentions people of color, but not as its first or only definition, and the page about brown doesn’t mention it at all.
Other than that, the book is fine, but aside from the use of Archie characters, adds little that is different from several other Pride books about the rainbow flag—and one might wonder whether a comic depicting high schoolers will really appeal to children still learning their colors. Adult fans may want it for their children, though, even if the genre feels saturated.
