I suppose it is true that Trek hasn't had a black female lead before. But Trek has had a black lead and a female lead separately.
As for rooting the show in a culturally black experience - DS9 came about as close to this as possible with Far Beyond The Stars in particular, but this had to be done through a 20th century setting. The thing is in the Trekverse, human racism has vanished. So much of the black experience as it is understood in the west - particularly the U.S. is rooted in a response to racism. Take racism away, and everyone would just start to culturally blend together. Actually, genetically blend together too. One of the big missteps of Trek was that in a world where even inter-species children are common, and interracial marriage is completely normal, there should be a lot of multiracial people and relatively few humans left who look any one thing in particular. Of course I recognize that Trek is not supposed to represent what the future will actually be, but something that contemporary people can relate to. Still, it would be irresponsible to depict a culturally authentic black experience shorn of racism, and (human) racism canonically doesn't exist in the Trekverse - so it's better to leave it mostly unspoken.
I do give Discovery credit in that women are finally being written better. Even during the Berman era, Kira was the only female character which wasn't written with her femininity in some way central to her character. Nana Visitor even mentioned when she auditioned for the part she was astonished that the part wasn't written as "the woman" but just an amazing character that happened to be a woman. All of the female characters on Discovery feel like this. They aren't meant to be "the babe" or "nurturing" or anything else. They're just themselves. Now if only they could flesh them out a bit.
Burnham feels like she was sort of focus-grouped in a lab or something. The writers realized that the breakout characters in each show - Spock, Data, Worf, The Doctor, Seven, etc - were torn between two worlds in some sense - they were outsiders to humanity looking in at us. They tried to merge this with Tom Paris's backstory. In theory it could have worked well, but I feel like the singular focus on her - along with direction not to emote heavily due to Vulcan upbringing - alienated a lot of folks.
Slavery and colonialism have been massively destructive worldwide, but the black experience (s) is not solely defined by that dark history. There was lots of history before that. Racism is not the sum total of the black experience. And when rooting a person in a culture (s), it can be simple, even nonverbal things like Sisko’s appreciation for African art. Discovery already did this to some extent, though it wasn’t specific to Burnham, with their musical choices. I never thought I would hear Wycelf Jean or Al Green music on a Trek show ever, so it was great to hear their music. Burnham could reflect cultural diversity in ways like her civilian dress, some of the foods she eats, books she reads, religion, people she references, etc. For me, it’s the next step in general when it comes to diversity. To some extent, the first hurdle of just casting people of color in roles that in the past they wouldn’t get has been accomplished-not enough or in every genre-but in some ways it has. Now, I wish Hollywood would then do the work of learning and being respectful and appreciative of the unique cultural perspectives these characters might have based on their backgrounds. I always liked when DS9 did that because it showed a kind of awareness.
I also disagree that absent something massively traumatic like racism that cultures would just blend together. For one, some cultural blending happened
during slavery, in part because a new culture (I’m thinking of the US specifically, but arguably throughout the African Diaspora) was created to replace the ones stripped away during the Transatlantic slave trade. And cultural mixing-to some extent-continued after slavery, during segregation, and into the present day. That being said, cultural mixing in general, absent even a horrific history, is not a given. I mean when you look at many countries today, there is some blending-maybe-but there is also a limit, and there can be push back to too much amalgamation. A lot of people tend to want to hold on to some traditions, preserve some things that make them unique.
When it comes to female characters, I think you got what I was trying to express. Yes, they are written better for the most part on Discovery.
About Burnham, good point. The character torn between two cultures is a common Trek theme, as well as characters either contending with humanity (seeking, rejecting, etc.) in some way (Spock, Data, Worf, Odo, Seven, The Doctor, T’Pol, etc.). Though going off that, it makes me think too that none of the breakout Trek characters were ever the lead character. They added something special to the mix. Not being the official face of the show seemed to free the writers to really explore them, to have more fun with them, and some of those characters wound up stealing scenes or the show outright. It’s more like the lead character had a bit more constraints on them because they were the lead. So what Discovery is attempting to do is risky for a Trek show, to have the lead also be the kind of outsider character. Perhaps in later seasons this will shift more to Saru, but for Season 1 I think it was Burnham. Giving Burnham a Vulcan upbringing does acknowledge the importance of the Vulcans in the Federation, allows for the tie to Spock, and makes more sense in the time period of the series. However, it might have been more fun to have had Burnham be raised by Andorians or another Federation species (that might even explain her response to the Klingons in the first episode better if she had been raised in a warrior culture). Shran as her foster dad might have been fun to see.
Making Burnham culturally Vulcan was a writer-imposed limitation, though I think the writers recognized that and paired her with Tilly to get some comedy and emotion from that mismatch and to bring out Burnham’s humanity. We do see Burnham warming to Tilly and becoming her mentor and friend over the course of the season. Previous Treks understood they needed to have their Vulcan characters have someone to play off of, to either annoy them or give them a sparring partner. (Spock-McCoy; Tuvok-Neelix; T’Pol-Trip) and Discovery is doing that with Burnham and Tilly, though we might also see that to some extent with Burnham and Saru.
I think making the series about Burnham was an interesting choice that does make Discovery stand out more and I am curious to see if the writers will maintain that or turn the show over to an ensemble format. I can see why they would build the Burnham character up since she was to be the series lead. They wanted to make her an interesting character that could conceivably carry a series for several years. And tying her to Spock places her right at the heart of Trek right off the bat. And then her other accomplishments, before the war, and during it, also were meant to show-IMO-that she’s a fascinating, complex character that we want to get to know.
