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The racist legacy of Star Trek

Plus or minus a likely apocryphal story about Nichelle Nichols and Martin Luther King -- what BigJake said.

At this point I really don't care if that MLK/Nichelle thing even happened. The point is she did get to play the part, and did it well. Let her embellish the retelling of it all she wants.
Yea, even if? it never happened, I'm sure if he actually believed that this far in, she would need the backup to show his support and pride, I'm sure he would've happily given it.
 
Plus or minus a likely apocryphal story about Nichelle Nichols and Martin Luther King -- what BigJake said.

At this point I really don't care if that MLK/Nichelle thing even happened. The point is she did get to play the part, and did it well. Let her embellish the retelling of it all she wants.
Yea, even if? it never happened, I'm sure if he actually believed that this far in, she would need the backup to show his support and pride, I'm sure he would've happily given it.

Do we have any reason to doubt the story is true?

I've always taken her at her word and never doubted her for a second.

It always sounded like something MLK would have done.
 
At this point I really don't care if that MLK/Nichelle thing even happened. The point is she did get to play the part, and did it well. Let her embellish the retelling of it all she wants.
Yea, even if? it never happened, I'm sure if he actually believed that this far in, she would need the backup to show his support and pride, I'm sure he would've happily given it.

Do we have any reason to doubt the story is true?

I've always taken her at her word and never doubted her for a second.

It always sounded like something MLK would have done.
It's supposedly been debunked,
 
Yea, even if? it never happened, I'm sure if he actually believed that this far in, she would need the backup to show his support and pride, I'm sure he would've happily given it.

Do we have any reason to doubt the story is true?

I've always taken her at her word and never doubted her for a second.

It always sounded like something MLK would have done.
It's supposedly been debunked,

My "google fingers" can not find anything about that. I did find this article that supports it.

http://legendsrevealed.com/entertai...n-luther-king-keep-nichols-leaving-star-trek/

I just can't fathom that Nichelle would lie to us about that. I think I would be crushed.
 
Supposedly some other stories have been debunked too, like the story around the 'first' interracial kiss.

Supposedly it wasn't as much a controversy as history makes it out to be.
 
Well, wouldn't that depend on where you lived in the US in November 1968?

Dr. Martin Luther King was assasinated in April 1968 and just one month before "Plato's Stepchildren" aired, audiences had seen Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists to the "Black Power Salute" ("Human Rights Salute") after winning the gold and bronze medals, respectively, at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games.

According to a documentary I recently saw the two got into a lot of trouble in the aftermath, they were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats. :wtf:

Therefore I have little doubt that Kirk's and Uhura's kiss also stirred up some controversy, just about 4 weeks after the Salute at the Olympic Games.

Bob
 
Well, I think if a person was in America, and black, what was going on in 1968 would only be a part of the experience. Malcolm X - my hero - was assassinated in 1965, and the civil rights movement (in all its forms) was in motion.

Now, "Star Trek" wasn't a ratings behemoth at the time - it did eventually get cancelled due to ratings, after all - so I don't think the Kirk/Uhura kiss received Earth-shattering controversy. Just with the people who watched or knew of the show.

As aforementioned, while the supposedly 'first interracial kiss on television' wasn't exactly the first - America tends to focus on race whenever it involves a black person, usually a black male, opposite a non-black individual - as previously brought out, I'm sure it did have its share of controversy. This is in contrast to the many kisses between white men and Asian women on television before 'Plato's Stepchildren' (including the kiss between France Nuyen and William Shatner on "Star Trek," that aired after 'Plato's Stepchildren') that go without controversy.

It is a a double-standard I absolutely hate. And, that double-standard is still in place today, unfortunately.

As for the two Olympians that put up the 'black power' fist: San Jose State University has always had a nice statue commemorating the two men.
 
I'm a graduate of San Jose State. OT, but it doesn't get mentioned all that often.:)

I'm going to get a bit off-topic as well but I want to say:

Awesome!

It's a popular school out here in the Bay Area.

I am accepted for the Library Science Master's program for the Fall....but I think I want something a bit more in line with writing or film that is actually practical. (Not too mention, I don't really need a Master's at this moment).
 
I'm a graduate of San Jose State. OT, but it doesn't get mentioned all that often.:)

I'm going to get a bit off-topic as well but I want to say:

Awesome!

It's a popular school out here in the Bay Area.

I am accepted for the Library Science Master's program for the Fall....but I think I want something a bit more in line with writing or film that is actually practical. (Not too mention, I don't really need a Master's at this moment).
The girl I dated while at SJSU was a Library Science major for a while. Started as pre-Vet, then Library Science, but I think her final degree was in Physical Education. She was a bit flighty. :p I was an Art major! Stuck to it all the way!
 
I'm a graduate of San Jose State. OT, but it doesn't get mentioned all that often.:)

I'm going to get a bit off-topic as well but I want to say:

Awesome!

It's a popular school out here in the Bay Area.

I am accepted for the Library Science Master's program for the Fall....but I think I want something a bit more in line with writing or film that is actually practical. (Not too mention, I don't really need a Master's at this moment).
The girl I dated while at SJSU was a Library Science major for a while. Started as pre-Vet, then Library Science, but I think her final degree was in Physical Education. She was a bit flighty. :p I was an Art major! Stuck to it all the way!

Yeah, it seemed like she was trying to figure out which major truly interested her.;)
 
It's a writers' trope known as the "Planet of Hats."

Not a fan of that term as it doesn't really nail what this is. The real antecedent of Star Trek is probably Gulliver's Travels. You use entire populations of strange people to illustrate an ideological viewpoint.

It's just like how so many SF novels revolve around a dystopian "what-if". You can anthologize that by having the ship visit one planet or another where the course of development of that species went down one tangent or another.
 
It seems not one interviewer ever seems to ask Nichelle at which event or on what date this particular MLK encounter happened.
 
It seems not one interviewer ever seems to ask Nichelle at which event or on what date this particular MLK encounter happened.

She told the MLK story on an episode of AMC's Comic Book Men earlier this year.

I want the story to be true, because it really is a great story, but I have my doubts.
 
She tells the story in practically every interview I ever run across with her. I've looked and I can't find a single reference to her mentioning it before TMP, though.
 
She tells the story in practically every interview I ever run across with her. I've looked and I can't find a single reference to her mentioning it before TMP, though.
Was there a mention of the story in one of the early books about the series? I seem to recall it mentioned in one, perhaps 'The Making of Star Trek' by Stephan Whitfield. As I remember it was a phone call, but not having the books or having read them in decades it could just be a false memory.
 
Part of the problem with the Reverend King story is that Nickels obviously embellished it through the years, which doesn't automatically mean it didn't happen in it's simplest form.

A short note in the mail telling her to stick with the show. Then it's a personal phone call. Then it's a meeting with King while he is in Los Angeles for some big speech.

However, the fact that the story kept changing with each telling does cast doubt.

:)
 
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