The Question of the X-Men: Acceptance or Destruction?

Even before reading these comics for class, I had been reading X-Men comics and watching X-Men cartoons on TV since I was young.  And I had always considered them to be representative of the oppressed or minority identity.  When the X-Men were reflecting a racial minority struggle or part of the LGBT movement,  they were someone the underdog could identify with.  But not just an underdog in the sense of the misunderstood, bullied Peter Parker.  No, these underdogs were a group fighting against evils and also their own government and other organizations that wanted them to simply cease to exist.   Being misunderstood meant something different to the X-Men than it did to the lonesome Peter Parker.  Their form of misunderstood had the potential to result in mass extinction and fear of being harmed.  People were genuinely afraid of them, and wanted to harm them because of their differences.  Their situation was much more similar to how the public reacted to the Stonewall Riots in New York and the marches during the Civil Rights movement.  Fear mixed with anger and intent to harm.  The X-Men suddenly became the representatives for oppressed groups.  The government was no longer the good guy when it hunted our heroes.  And even within the mutant community themselves there were factions and disagreements that split them rather that united them in a common cause for peace and equality.
The page just before the "Fallout" issue of the comics posted on blackboard poses the question "should mankind strive to live in harmony with those who are 'different,' or should we consider them enemies and seek to destroy them?"  Unfortunately, this is still a question that is constantly rephrased and spoken again and again to this day.  Whether people come from different backgrounds, religions, races, cultures, sexualities, etc., some people will always find a reason to demonize, target, and hate another group.  The world definitely still needs the X-Men to teach each future generation that differences and misunderstandings do not have to result in hate and division.  The X-Men preach acceptance and understanding, which we can all benefit from and should live by each day.