Adventures of a Superhero inspired #SafetyCreator

Pulp novel mystery men and comic book superheroes have always implausibly served as more than entertainment. They were models for emulation, from the bronze superlative of Doc Savage to the Caped Crusader himself, Batman.

Obviously, there was the small problem of bringing their fictional realm to the real world where I reside. 

For years I pursued vocations with the superhero theme quietly in mind: freelance ( pre-Internet ) writer; civil rights activist; motivational speaker; uniformed security officer; plainclothes loss prevention detective; bouncer; bounty hunter; neighborhood watch coordinator; citizen on patrol and blogger. 

Each pursuit was infused with visions of the superhero within me. Then, in 2008, I became aware of the RLSH or real life superhero community.

Real life superheroes are men and women, equally inspired by fictional  superheroes, who create iconic identities and do creative crime prevention and homeless outreach. They showed me that my secret dream could actually come true in the real world.

I knew I wanted to do superhero work not only as fantastic philanthropy but also as a forward thinking profession. To that end I took all the vocations I'd practiced and placed them under the brand name " Cap Black. " I created it to fulfil my superhero dream and lend much needed energy to crime prevention and homeless outreach.

" Cap Black " also became the brand name under which I started advising people in trouble and eventually, businesses and event organizers. It was the culmination of decades of advocacy and vocation refined into a service offered to fill the gap between traditional policing, conventional private security and the public. I call this service safety creation and invite others to participate within their comfort zones.

Heeding a friend's repeated urging to relocate to the real life Gotham City of New Orleans sealed the deal. In this city I found an eclectic place where a middle aged Black man who was a superhero was simply one of countless colorful characters.

My adventures as a superhero inspired safety creator would fill a book ( may be I'll write one ) but to the clients and colleagues who share them with me, we know they're real- not fantasy!

Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black is a professional safety creator and Head of Security for the New Orleans Healing Center.