Why did Sisko's skin colour matter in Benny Russell's story
- Thread starter Ethros
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I'm remembering the Robert Heinlein story Space Cadet, where the commanding officer of the ship that landed on Venus was Black.
Oh how I strongly disagree with this. As an American raised Black male if I read a story and the characters race is not given, I naturally assume the character is white. I have attended black churches all my life and you know what color Jesus is in the paintings I've seen--white. When you're living in a country where you are the minority the default color will always be that of the majority.
But those latter examples don't take into account the dynamic within the US itself in past decades. For a long time, including Benny Russell's 1950s, African-American churches have displayed pictures that depict a very white Jesus.
A black kid and an Asian kid in 1950s America probably also would have understood that the character in Benny's story was supposed to be white, even if no indication of race and skin color were specified. That was just the "default" in the dominant culture, so it would have been automatically assumed.
Kor
Far Beyond the Stars is reminiscent of the real world events surrounding the attempt in 1956 by the Comics Code Authority to censor a reprint of "Judgment Day" by Al Feldstein and Joe Orlando, originally from 1953, that famously depicts the reveal of a black astronaut in its final frame. The attempt at censorship failed, and the story was reprinted uncensored in Incredible Science Fiction #33, but the publisher, EC Comics, stopped publishing comic books on that issue [link].
The Memory Alpha page for FBtS mentions a similarity to the initial rejection of Nova by Samuel R. Delany.
I don't doubt that there are other real world incidents that parallel the censorship depicted in the episode.
The Memory Alpha page for FBtS mentions a similarity to the initial rejection of Nova by Samuel R. Delany.
I don't doubt that there are other real world incidents that parallel the censorship depicted in the episode.
Not just to challenge white prejudices but also to give black kids a hero to look up to that looks like them. To give people who are currently oppressed a vision of a future where they can be just as heroic and important and valued as white people are.
Isn't the essential premise of Trek (at least as presented by First Contact) that the exploration of space and meeting other forms of life forces humanity to understand and solve problems, not sweep them under the rug?
The thing is, though, when our society takes a colorblind approach, it's usually silently understood that colorblind = white, or white as the default. That's why things need to be demarcated clearly and evenly. As much as we want to idealize ourselves that race doesn't matter, every minority sees their race when they look in the mirror the first thing in the morning, as that's an integral part of identity by virtue of being minority. A Japanese person won't think twice about their race if they're born and raised among other Japanese people, but a Japanese person surrounded by white classmates or colleagues in the US or UK will see their race right off the bat. Seeing a minority and then telling them that you're colorblind then has the unfortunate side effect of telliing a minority that a key part of their identity is invisible to you, and that's painful invalidation, just as we saw how much it hurt for Benny Russell.
In making his hero Black, Benny put forth a case for visibility and identity. Putting his protagonist as a blank, no-nothing state would mean that he'd automatically become white in readers' minds because the possibility of anything isn't outright said. This is also why visibility and intentional race-casting (in cases where it's important) really matters, because if the default is white, then there's no creativity to dare to imagine someone else in that role. And as it is, today like in the 1950s or the 1990s, with the vast majority of protagonists being white, a minority protagonist still raises eyebrows because it's not the norm or the expected. Even if Ben's overall story was race-neutral, just the teeny tiny fact of having a Black man at the center of the story was enough to prompt a reaction.
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Maybe I'm missing something, but what's being swept under the rug here?
First contact gave me the impression the human race were too busy blowing each other to bits, that race became irrelevant. I don't think anything was swept under the rug, there was no rug. According to the movie mankind solves poverty and other negative isms within 40 years or did they say 60? That means the chlidren born during or after First contact got their act together a lot quicker and better than their parents and grand parents did.
I suppose knowing aliens are out there scared the shit out of em. Racism/Prejudice was transferred to aliens rather than ones fellow human being if you follow ST ENT. Not so much enlightenment of humanity more 'lets pick on someone else instead' as showcased in TOS with Dr McCoy (IMO).
I suppose knowing aliens are out there scared the shit out of em. Racism/Prejudice was transferred to aliens rather than ones fellow human being if you follow ST ENT. Not so much enlightenment of humanity more 'lets pick on someone else instead' as showcased in TOS with Dr McCoy (IMO).
I hardly think it's fair to characterize the actions of either a) the MU humans, or b) the extremists shown in some episodes of ENT as representing the majority of humanity at the time in the Primeverse.
I prefer to think that First Contact served as a wake-up call in the sense of reminding people of their better natures.
I could draw parallels with certain contemporary political situations, but...let's not go there...
I prefer to think that First Contact served as a wake-up call in the sense of reminding people of their better natures.
I could draw parallels with certain contemporary political situations, but...let's not go there...
No, I'm saying nothing was swept under the rug. However, I may have created some confusion as I was trying to avoid the term "whitewash," so as not to sound repetitive. The humans we see in Trek acknowledge various social ills, racism among them, recognize them in other societies, and condemn them directly.No, I didn't get it either....
I always thought it would be funny if Benny encountered a certain producer who just happened to look like Gene Roddenberry.
In the 1950s having a black captain would be a huge cultural statement. At the time all portrayals of black men in culture were as servants or criminals, and showing a black captain would be subvert that, showing young black kids they can grow up to be something more than a servant, and threatening white people who have a feeling of entitlement to be the masters of industry and culture. Not only that, since the story takes place in the future it implies that the cultural hegemony will fall and one day a white man might call a black man 'boss', which is doubly threatening to those who feel cultural superiority is their birthright.
Making the captain black is a statement that he is NOT inferior, and changing the race of the captain to being white takes away that message and takes away the power of the statement, bringing all that frustration of a lifetime of being told he's inferior to the surface.
Making the captain black is a statement that he is NOT inferior, and changing the race of the captain to being white takes away that message and takes away the power of the statement, bringing all that frustration of a lifetime of being told he's inferior to the surface.
