Now more than ever, some of us need to be reminded of the dream & how far we’ve come & how far we all need to go.
How did y’all celebrate MLK day?
Speaking of MLK & the thread topic (suggested by @accidentalstartrekcosplay a long time ago – that i’m finally putting together said thread), my choice for influential/seminal BIPOC media: Star Trek
Something racists never seem to understand: we’re all humans. Some of us just want to be treated just like anyone else. A human being who is very capable and worthy of respect & admiration like anyone else, in a crew for instance.
I hadn’t intended to talk about Star Trek, but a day of celebration dovetails into another previously unused thread topic & Trek has been on my mind lately with the release of the new show “Starfleet Academy.”
Star Trek is far from perfect, but as the great MLK hinted at, its power transcended my own childhood conceptualisation of how different I saw myself (i.e. I didn’t or at least I didn’t understand why I felt so different compared to other kids – mostly culturally).
Even in the 90’s people of colour were few and far between on television screens in the UK. It’s gotten better & even behind the camera (to some degree), but there “was” a time when society refused to see everyone as equals. To put hope & optimism at the forefront.
Personally I didn’t realise how needed it was, to see the broader culture at large reflect my own lived experiences. That people of all colours and creeds were equals. That there could be a better tomorrow. Guided by science & understanding.1
This song played in the newest Star Trek show (set a thousand years into the future/or a couple of centuries2 after Deep Space Nine3) hints at the Federation’s return to San Francisco (traditionally the teaching grounds for the quasi-paramilitary “peacekeeping” arm (Starfleet) of the United Federation of planets):
I won’t lie listening to this4 and thinking about this song post watch & seeing Rufus sing with a choir to a fantastic orchestral arrangement made me cry. Hard.
Not for good reasons sadly, despite how great the song is (& maybe even a little because of it).
Thinking about Renée Good (murdered only a few blocks away from where George Floyd had been?!) & the descent of the increasingly racist/fascist US governmental forces & it’s treatment of people of colour (the deportations, the horror-stories of the holding facilities)… not only did the future utopia feel so far away,5 but any plan I had to travel to the US or San Francisco seems very, very far away. Another galaxy at this point (shout out Andor for being more relevant than ever).
Listening to this song made me think about all these things and more. It’s no great shakes over here in the UK, I might add. We’ve got a rehashed, slightly worse Tory government sitting in the wings, ready to take over & specifically make my life & a great many other people’s lives (of many skin colours and creeds) far worse. Oh, the folly of giving into (the migrant) fear.
I hope I’m wrong.
It’s still a lovely song & despite the awful fact that Star Trek (via Paramount) is now owned6 by the Ellison family (that seems wholly in lockstep with Trump, if CBS news is any indication) the franchise will presumably continue. Hopefully inspiring another generation of scientists, as it did me.
TL;DR: Prompt: Which Influential BIPOC media/Seminal BIPOC TV shows over the years can you name?
Feel free to go off topic. I probably won’t be around till much later. Hopefully someone can link this thread to the PT & OT.
Hope y’all are doing well.
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