Idon't play favorites with my nieces and nephews. They are all turning into such wonderful little people, and I enjoy each and every one of them -- especially their quirks. I just happen to have more to talk about with one of them. Why? Because he's reliving part of my childhood.

A love of superheroes dominated my youth. I loved the entire casts of both the DC and Marvel universes: Superman, Green Lantern, Spiderman, Captain America, Flash, Aquaman, Iceman . . . I'd better stop before I go through the entire roll call. First and foremost, however, I was -- OK, still am -- a Batman guy. I love the Dark Knight. And so does my oldest nephew. He's a major fan of superheroes, especially Batman -- and that shared experience, formed 20 years apart, strengthens our bond. (We got into a heated discussion three weekends ago about the last Superman movie, which was so horrendous I refuse to admit it happened. The nephew found some way to enjoy it.)

Then, on July 2 "Hancock" was released. I've taken the nephew to his first Redskins game, first Virginia Tech football game, to the White House and Congress; watching him during those experiences was great fun for me. None of them beat taking him to see "Hancock," though. Why? Go back and look at the aforementioned list of superheroes. It's full of white guys. The actor Will Smith, an African-American, brought "Hancock" to life.

When I was growing up, I didn't see many superheroes who were brown like me. Try as DC might, Black Vulcan and Apache Chief never caught on. And as a purist, I can't accept the modern, black Green Lantern -- it's just too forced to turn a white character black.

"Hancock" presented the opportunity to show my nephew that people several shades darker than Clark Kent can be superheroic, too. Although we did have to have an uncomfortable conversation about some of the language in the movie -- which I hope he knows he should not ever repeat -- it was thrilling to share this movie with him. I enjoyed watching his view of the horizon -- subtly -- enlarged.

As my nephew and I walked out of the theater (we did a fist pound -- or as Fox News calls the gesture, a "terrorist fist-bump" -- to acknowledge how much we enjoyed the movie) my mind wandered to work. Specifically, I thought about these lines from the editorial, "Big Difference": "An African-American vote for Obama reflects pride. A bigoted vote against him reflects hate. The difference is as simple as that -- and as stark."

I was extraordinarily proud to take my nephew to see a superhero who is brown like the two of us. That's not something we get to see often, and it presented the opportunity to teach him a lesson without saying a single word. But that pride doesn't diminish our enthusiasm for the traditional superheroes we've always loved. That pride isn't racism. I took Friday off from work to take him to see "Batman: The Dark Knight" in Imax -- a movie we've talked about since Christmas. The excitement and pride created by Hancock didn't diminish the anticipation about Batman, who happens to be white. As a matter of fact, it makes the Bat-frenzy all the more intense -- people who look a lot like us are superheroes (Hancock) and people who look a little less like us are, too (Batman).

After "Hancock," I headed home (and dropped the kid off) and my mom and I had a spirited McCain versus Obama debate. I'd be surprised if Barack Obama has a more fervent supporter than my mother. For the first time in my life, my mother is paying more attention to politics than I am. Instead of her paying for my subscription to the newspaper (as was the case when I was young), I took this opportunity to pay for her subscription.

Mom hasn't said so directly, but her fervor likely comes from the fact that she -- who lived through Virginia's growing pains as the state went through Massive Resistance and integration -- is watching a black man actually challenge for the White House. (Heck, I wasn't sure I'd live long enough to see that.) She s proud that a man with skin color close to hers finally is considered presidential timber -- in a country that has let her down because of her race a time or two. I do know that it has shown her how far the country has moved since the furor about school segregation erupted in 1954.

Does her pride in voting for Obama, a black man, make her a racist? Does it make her just like a white person who won't support Obama because of his race? No. She has voted in the past for plenty of candidates who happen to be white -- and likely will do so again in the future. (She met a candidate for governor, who happens to be white, at church this past Sunday and she sounded pretty excited about him.) Those people voting against Obama because of his black father can't say the same. The Obama haters who focus on his ethnic heritage are racists; my mother is not. Dear reader, the difference is as simple as that -- and as stark.

And neither am I a racist because of the excitement taking my nephew to see Hancock generated in me. I loved Will Smith's performance, but I'm rooting for Heath Ledger to win an Oscar for his performance as the Joker. (I'll always be a Batman guy at heart.)
Cordel Faulk is The Times-Dispatch's Commentary editor. Contact him at (804) 649-6480 or cfaulk@timesdispatch.com.