I am old enough to remember when Star Trek, the original series, first hit television. Most people didn’t realize it at the time, but that series, like ‘The Twilight Zone’ before it, was a series of morality plays and one recurring theme was racism.
Star Trek was groundbreaking in many respects; an alien first officer, an African American and an Asian (gay, but not out of the closet yet) with starring roles and, of course, The Kiss.
While it was not the first interracial kiss on television, it was likely the most talked about and debated. It is described this way on Wikipedia: A 1968 episode of Star Trek, "Plato's Stepchildren",] which first aired on November 22, 1968, is often referred to as the first interracial kiss on American television. This claim is disputed by some who contend that in the scene in question, full lip contact between William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols did not occur, as the actors turned their heads away from the camera at the last moment to present the illusion of a kiss, meaning that this scene was not a true kiss. The latter point has been disputed, with Shatner claiming that he and Nichols' lips never fully touched and Nichols asserting that the kiss was real.
While this post is only partially about that kiss, if you would like to see it, you can by going here: https://youtu.be/9KGE7HYEie0
The problem with racism is that most people have no idea how deep or muddied their gene pool is. I have to wonder how many of the ‘white supremacists’ would react to finding out that their pristine, lily whiteness has a few ‘darker’ shades back a few generations? If they believe in the Bible, then they have to believe this as well. After all, didn’t we ALL spring from the same stock?
Racism doesn’t only go one way. There are plenty of African Americans that hate Caucasians for no better reason than they are white. Here’s the thing, racism really isn’t genetic. It is learned, and I can prove it.
I have raised several African American children. Many have called me dad. Now, I can see some of the uber-libs gnashing their teeth, “How DARE you take someone out of their culture?!” Seriously? A drug using, drunk mother, and father that beat the children or worse, ignored them completely? That’s a culture? Someone had to love and care for these kids and, frankly, if you have a problem with ME doing it, YOU are a racist.
That is one reason I’m a little dismayed when I see a certain NARF commercial. A woman comes on and decries that fact that some of the native American kids are being removed from their culture and brought up in ‘the white man’s world.’ It’s this kind of misguided RACISM that leaves children in poor and hurtful situations.
If we want to end racism, we need to start taking personal responsibility for it. In my book, Synesthesia, a 300-year old Jew-turned-Christian falls in love with and marries an African Queen (at her request), and they have a little girl together. Later, that very same Jew-turned-Christian becomes a slave to an African tribe. I should point out that none of this would have been unusual to the people of the time.
The whole idea of hating someone for the color of their skin is as ridiculous as hating someone for their blood type. Please, raise your hand if you got to choose your race before you were born. If any of you DID raise your hands, I would ask that you pick a name closest to you and quickly visit someone from the American Psychiatric Association, you are special.
I recently watched an absolutely wonderful young African American woman destroy the whole notion that our country is being torn apart and ruined by organizations like the KKK, White Supremacists, Back Lives Matter and their ilk. She correctly pointed out that these groups comprise about .002% of the population. Did you get that? They are becoming extinct; it is only the media that is keeping them alive!
I live in the deep south after living a great many years in the north. I have never met a more courteous and kind people than I have here. It doesn’t matter what the color of their skin is and it doesn’t matter what religion they practice, they’re just plain good people. I’m not saying that there aren’t bad ones out there, but they are NOT THE majority or even close to it.
So, here’s a tip: want to overcome and eliminate racism? Don’t take part in it at any level. In fact, when someone comes out with any racist or hateful comment, you should immediately counter with, “I’m sorry, I don’t agree that what you said has anything to do with race [religion, sex, etc.] People are people.” I have used that line before, and while it doesn’t always shut down the other party, it does so more often than not.
Isn’t time that we conquered our fears and boldly went where the people who taught us to hate have never gone before?
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