Damian Wayne is the son of Bruce Wayne (Batman)  and Talia Al Ghul. Raised by The League of Assassins till the age of ten Damian later distances himself from the League to work alongside his father. Damian becomes Robin, making him the 5th Robin so far. Damian is also established as one of the only visibly diverse Robins (Arab and Chinese). 

Damian’s first appearance dates back to Mike W. Barr’s Batman: Son of the Demon in 1987. Proceeding his first appearance, other versions of Damian appeared in elseworlds comics such as Kingdom Come (1996), The Kingdom: Son of the Bat (1999), and others. Damian was retconned back into existence by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert in Batman #656 in 2006, the first issue of the Batman and Son Arc. 

Since then Damian has grown and developed into the character he is known as today.

The start of his development is most prominent in Batman and Robin 2009 by Grant Morrison. In which Bruce Wayne, the original Batman, dies, therefore, leaving Dick Grayson (his first Robin) no choice but to become Batman with Damian as his Robin. With Dick Grayson as Damian’s primary guide into the world of heroism, Damian would become more sympathetic, easier to work with, and minimize his violent tendencies. This would also establish one of Damian’s most important relationships with Dick that continues to be everlasting till this day. 

Damian’s development is then continued in Batman and Robin 2011 in which Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason elegantly demonstrate Damian and Bruce’s initial rocky relationship because of their differing beliefs and upbringings. Under Bruce’s guidance  (especially through  Nobody’s (Morgan Ducard) death) learning that killing is not the answer to solving crime. By the end of the comic Damian is shown to value life more and adopt his father’s beliefs. 

In Patrick Gleason’s Robin: Son of Batman, Gleason does an incredible job of establishing that Damian regrets his past and desires to take responsibility for his actions by going through the Year of Atonement along with Goliath by his side. By the end even becoming friends with Maya Ducard (The daughter of Morgan Ducard) and Surren Darga (Rival to the Al Ghul’s). 

And recently with Gleason and Tomasi’s Super Sons essentially bringing Damian’s development full circle by becoming a sort-of mentor to his best friend Jonathan Kent (Superboy; Superman’s son) into the superhero world. The book proves the extent of Damian’s development by showing his abilities to be a mentor as well as developing his friendship with Jon. In addition, showing that beside Jon, Damian is able to relive the childhood he was initially neglected. One could say it also proves that Damian is still a child despite his personality generally saying otherwise. 

This is the reason why fans of Damian have become angry and frustrated with the regression of Damian’s character from the beginning of Adam Glass’s Teen Titans run. Every other comic has pointed to Damian’s upward development as a hero with the clear exception of Teen Titans. While most comics have shown Damian honorably holding up his title of Robin Teen Titans has done the opposite by showing Damian creating a prison (essentially a torture chamber) and mind-washing criminals which contradicts his previously established development. This is worsened by the fact that Damian wasn’t given good reasons to go down this path except for the events of No Justice and Black Mask blowing up his favorite restaurant. Fans would’ve been more inclined to believe these as reasons for Damian’s regression if they were presented as such but these reasons were only mentioned once in Teen Titans Special and never again brought up. How are we the readers supposed to accept this as a possible reason if the reason wasn't sold to us? It is the job of the writer to sell his reasonings. 

And that is just the tip of the iceberg when we are talking about Damian’s regression. DC Comics prides itself in its representation and diversity of their characters while their comics regularly say the opposite, particularly with the regression of the only visibly diverse Robin to the current date. Deteriorating the development of Damian over the past years is not only an insult to fans of Damian but a slap in the face to fans of color especially of those who identify with Damian’s race. 

And unfortunately, this isn’t the only instance that DC Comics has overlooked respecting Damian as a character of color. 

If we ignore the many instances of whitewashing of Damian in comics it is fairly obvious that Teen Titan’s (particularly Adam Glass’s run) has exacerbated negative racial stereotypes not only about Damian but about the other members as well:

• In Teen Titan’s Annual #1 in which Damian was seen with a bomb strapped to his chest while fighting Jason Todd perpetuates the infamous suicide bomber stereotype. In media, Arabs are often portrayed as evil and terroristic, and unfortunately, Teen Titan’s is no different. It portrays Damian, who is Arabian as someone coldhearted and terroristic, this is reinforced by his actions in Teen Titans such as having a secret prison underneath Mercy Hall and mind-washing criminals. 
• Assuming that Crush, also known as Xiomara Rojas is Latina, there are a ton of negative stereotypes associated with her.  For starters, Xiomara’s adoptive parents (David and Lisa Rojas) are portrayed druggies who are frequently running away from their crimes which are a common stereotype against Latinx. She is portrayed as thickheaded, aggressive, dangerous, violent, and verbally aggressive which pushes the “The Chola” and “The Fiery Latina” stereotype. 
• Despite being a part of the core three of the Teen Titans and being called the “moral compass” of the group, Kid Flash AKA Wallace West’s role in the Teen Titans is small. Similar to how most Black people are portrayed in the media, Wallace West seems to have no aspirations of his own even though he has been written in The Flash as very intelligent and has been mentioned to be a prodigy engineer. Personally, it is disappointing to see that the only thing writers seem to focus on when it comes to Wallace is his romantic relationships.
• Arabians, Hispanics, and Latinos tend to be portrayed in the media as associated with crime, writing the Teen Titans being involved in locking up prisoners illegally as well as mind-washing criminals just proves this comic consciously or unconsciously agrees with that sentiment. 
• Even Red Arrow’s characterization in Teen Titans feeds into the stereotype that Asians are seen as stereotypically  “competent but cold” despite Emiko shown as the opposite in Green Arrow.  

 And while we are on the topic, it is disappointing that this Teen Titans group is the most racially diverse incarnation of the Teen Titans (having Arabian, Japanese, Chinese, Black, and Latinx characters) while being one of the worst incarnations of the Teen Titans.

And this takes us to our demands to what should be done to salvage this: 

1. Cancel Teen Titans. If you can’t, greatly consider both options below:
2. Make Damian’s regression temporary. It will not look good to have one of your most prominent Arabian characters depicted as such for long.
3. Consider Damian's regression since Adam Glass’s Teen Titan’s run all apart of some sort of mental manipulation. This way all of Damian’s racially negative actions aren’t pinned on his true character. 

And some extra demands: 

1. Stop whitewashing characters of color like Damian.
2. Hold the editors in charge of editing Adam Glass’s run, as well as Adam Glass himself accountable for not being careful about the representation of their characters of color.
3. Make sure your team of editors in the future is extra careful about the portrayal of characters of color especially about exacerbating racial stereotypes. Educate your editors and writers about anti-racism in writing.
4. Make sure writers are doing research and requiring them to find outside resources to make sure they are fairly representing the race of the character they are writing.
5. Consider hiring established and known writers of color to write comics in which the main protagonist is a character of color. As well as comics in which most characters are racially diverse.

Not only fans of Damian are calling for this to be put into action but also your new generation of fans (who are young and diverse) are demanding action to be taken. These actions shouldn’t just be taken for the sake of fans, but for the sake of DC Comics. For the welfare and longevity of your company, you must make sure you're not feeding into harmful stereotypes that could be inflicting harm on your fans and spreading harmful perceptions about BIPOC.

*Photo used for Petition is by Patrick Gleason