MLK and Star Trek

[Destructor]

This is a bit of an old story around the Trek-o-sphere but I've never seen it written in such detail before. A rather wonderful anecdote from Nichelle Nichols about MLK's love and respect for Trek:

http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2010/01/18/martin-luther-king-mlk-uhura-nichelle-nichols/

Enjoy.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Yawn. The story gets more convoluted every time Nichols tells it. First she'd heard he liked it. Then he called her. Then he came to see her.
She's a truly lovely lady, inside and out, but she started believing her own bullshit a long time ago.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yep, this story has been evolving since the 1970s. You mention that, though, and people freak out like you accused Helen Keller of sexually assaulting a rottweiler.

Being old and having a memory that predates the Internet is...interesting.

 

[Ssosmcin]

You mention that, though, and people freak out like you accused Helen Keller of sexually assaulting a rottweiler.

Oh God, I almost choked on an M&M peanut.

I'm thrilled people saw something positive in Uhura to emulate, but honestly, I Spy broke a lot more ground promoting racial equality on television a year earlier than Star Trek. Evidence enough that NBC was already supportive of racial diversity in lead roles, especially considering Stan Robertson, an Afircan American, was a network VP. All of this was in place without any help from Gene Roddenberry.

Yeah, I've watched this story expand with every telling, each time elevating Uhura a little higher in social relevance, and further contributing to the diefication Roddenberry. I totally credit the man with creating the concept and characters, but The Legend gets a little too thick at the expense of dozens of production and network people who worked just as hard to keep it going. And don't get me started on how Gene gets credit for The Kiss (or Nichelle's description of that one).

I file Nichelle's recollections next to George Takei's "we were an ensemble" ravings, and Jimmy Doohan's remembering how he did the "thrown across the set by Apollo" stunt.

 

[RandyS]

Yawn. The story gets more convoluted every time Nichols tells it. First she'd heard he liked it. Then he called her. Then he came to see her.
She's a truly lovely lady, inside and out, but she started believing her own bullshit a long time ago.

A common problem among everybody assoicated with TOS. Except Kelley of course. Whatever bullshit he had, he took to the grave.

 

[plynch]

Yawn. The story gets more convoluted every time Nichols tells it. First she'd heard he liked it. Then he called her. Then he came to see her.
She's a truly lovely lady, inside and out, but she started believing her own bullshit a long time ago.

A common problem among everybody assoicated with TOS. Except Kelley of course. Whatever bullshit he had, he took to the grave.

He does tell the story of the joint in the mail. Not bs, though.

 

[Destructor]

Aw, leave it to Trekkies to take a nice story and tear it to pieces. It's nice to have a reminder of why I stopped frequenting the BBS oh so many years ago... ah.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Aw, leave it to Trekkies to take a nice story and tear it to pieces. It's nice to have a reminder of why I stopped frequenting the BBS oh so many years ago... ah.

No one "tore a nice story to pieces."

We merely noted that it is indeed a "nice story" as distinct from a factual account.

I'm thrilled people saw something positive in Uhura to emulate, but honestly, I Spy broke a lot more ground promoting racial equality on television a year earlier than Star Trek. Evidence enough that NBC was already supportive of racial diversity in lead roles, especially considering Stan Robertson, an Afircan American, was a network VP. All of this was in place without any help from Gene Roddenberry.

To have seen Roddenberry speak to college audiences during the 1970s - and remember that he derived a good part of his income from his speaking engagements for several years when work wasn't forthcoming in Los Angeles - is to have some sense of where the mythmaking and embellishments came from. Roddenberry was an entertaining and effective speaker who presented in a diffident and laconic manner and whose anecdotes were tailored to flatter the kids who came to see him with the essential message that "you are wiser than them, and that's evident in your admiration for Star Trek."

 

[Gepard]

....the essential message that "you are wiser than them, and that's evident in your admiration for Star Trek."

Damn. Sounds like this BBS.

 

[RandyS]

Yawn. The story gets more convoluted every time Nichols tells it. First she'd heard he liked it. Then he called her. Then he came to see her.
She's a truly lovely lady, inside and out, but she started believing her own bullshit a long time ago.

A common problem among everybody assoicated with TOS. Except Kelley of course. Whatever bullshit he had, he took to the grave.

He does tell the story of the joint in the mail. Not bs, though.

Oh right, the fan letter from that woman. Forgot about that one. Of course, it doesn't build him up like Uhura and MLK, or The first interracial kiss, it's just an amusing anecdote. That's probabaly why it's forgettable.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I feel I must point out that there's a better way to remember MLK and Trek: this way.