In a world plagued by inequality and social injustice, it is no surprise that there has been a recent call for a more diverse and inclusive entertainment industry. But it seems the only answer the industry has is taking well-known characters, typically played by white males, and flipping them, either by changing their race, their gender, or both. To some people this might seem like the right thing to do. I mean, what’s wrong with having more female or minority roles for people to identify with and look up to?

Here is the problem with this new trend: It’s lazy. Am I happy they are making an effort? Absolutely — it means we are at least making some kind of progress. But is it the ultimate answer to the problem of under-representation? No.

To me, gender- and race-swapping is like going to Furr’s Cafeteria and ordering a chicken fried steak with brown gravy, but they make a mistake and give you white gravy. In an attempt to fix the problem, they pour the brown gravy over the white. I mean sure, you get the brown gravy you wanted, but it didn’t really fix the problem — it only covered up their own mistake. Wouldn’t you much rather receive a new plate of chicken fried steak?

This is exactly what the entertainment industry needs to do: They need to make a new plate of chicken fried steak. And they need to include everyone, not just African-Americans, not just Hispanics, not just white people — everyone. Has the industry been dominated by white males in the past? Of course. But they do not need to overcorrect by suddenly making every white character ever created into a black one.

This trend not only shows a slapdash-fix attitude toward those who have been hurt, but it also alienates white people. How can we be a progressive society if we just keep making the same mistakes, but with different races?

Perhaps the biggest offender of this is the comic book industry. Marvel alone has recently redone their entire lineup of characters, changing a good number of races and genders. Iron Man, the founder of the Avengers and one of Marvel’s most popular characters, recently handed over the Iron Suit to Riri Williams, a black female teenager who changed the name to Iron Heart.

Here is my problem with Iron Heart: Why did they have to stop the Iron Man series to do this? Why did Riri Williams not exist until Tony Stark decided that he wanted to give up being a superhero? Marvel’s message now seems to be that she was nothing without the help of this powerful white man.

So you might be wondering, how else could they have handled this?

If I were a writer for Marvel comics, if Riri Williams were my character, the answer would be simple: She would make herself a superhero. Because believe it or not, girls can do things by themselves without much help. That way, Riri would be her own character. She would have done something amazing in making herself a superhero, and she wouldn’t need to ride on the coattails of another iconic male character to do so.

So how do I finish off this opinion piece without sounding like a sexist or a racist? Well I’m going to try to propose a solution to this mess.

Make. New. Characters. It’s not a difficult thing to do. Stop remaking, stop rebooting, and stop rewriting. Do something original. That way, everyone can keep their respective heroes and no group is nudged out or isolated.

The goal here is to make everyone feel equal, not to overcorrect by wronging those who have wronged in the past.