Let's Talk Trek

We're getting a new Star Trek!!! I'm so excited. What's even more exciting is, it looks like the new captain is to be a black woman. And her commander is Michelle Yeoh!! At the least, it looks like Yeoh is the captain and Sonequa Martin-Green is the second in command. Either way, a Trek series piloted by women of color?!?! I'm so freaking happy and proud to be a Trekkie! Seriously. Just watch.

And because there are a number of severely unenlightened individuals out there, who call themselves fans and yet have apparently never seen the show--ANY of the series...we have ‘White genocide in space’: Racist fans seethe at diversity in new ‘Star Trek’ series. Give me a damned break. First, finally, one of these headlines actually called them out for what they are: racists. Second, in the whole history of Trek series and films (that's 51 years of Trek for those not keeping up) every starship captain with exactly two exceptions has been white and male. That's one black man and one white woman in 51 years. Now, we finally have two women of color and all of the sudden it's a "genocide in space"? I seriously don't fucking understand this reasoning. Mathematically, white men still have the advantage. Do the fucking math. Seriously, if two women of color can wipe out the entire history of white men in a fiction world by merely existing? I mean, Michelle Yeoh is a bad ass and all but... Y'all are weak ass M-Fers.[1] Also? My favorite scene from Bring It On pops to mind.

The more often I watch that scene, the more perfect I think it is. Honestly, Isis has exactly the right response to Tori. Does that mean Tori is wrong to make the offer? Nope. She's right to do so. It's right for Isis to shred the check too. "Why do you have to be so mean?" is ye old White Woman Tears™ and Isis pegs it. Seriously, I just adore this scene. It's so fucking powerful.[2] And it nails the point that I'm going to bring up.

When one group is given all the advantages over other groups, how can they be sure that they're performing at their very best? Giving everyone the opportunity to excel is what civilization is all about. You know why? Because we collectively reap the benefits when all members of society can contribute their best skills and talents. We bring out the best in one another too. No one knows where the next Einstein or Neil deGrasse Tyson will come from. We don't know. We could be killing ourselves because the one person who can create the cure for cancer or global warming is too busy trying not to starve to death. Terry Pratchett said it best in The Truth:

Death: "AH. NUGGA VELSKI. YOU WILL NOT REMEMBER HIM, OF COURSE. HE WAS SIMPLY A MAN WHO WALKIED INTO HIS RATHER SIMPLE LITTLE HUT AT THE WRONG TIME, AND YOU ARE A BUSY MAN AND CANNOT BE EXPECTED TO REMEMBER EVERYONE. NOTE THE MIND, A BRILLIANT MIND THAT MIGHT IN OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD, DOOMED TO BE BORN INTO A TIME AND PLACE WHERE LIFE WAS NOTHING BUT A DAILY HOPELESS STRUGGLE..."

Yeah. And then Nugga's life intersected with Mr. Tulip's. Mr. Tulip was not a nice person. Mr. Tulip destroyed every chance Nugga had. You know what? Don't be Mr. Tulip.

Ultimately, if you're too weak to handle real competition--if you believe you can't hang if the world's best are truly allowed to bring it--then you don't belong on the top, do you? You're also nowhere near as tough and awesome as you think you are.

One more thing: if you think that liberalism in Trek is a new phenomenon? You've never comprehended what you were watching. Seriously. It's never been that well-hidden a secret that Trek is full of liberal ideals. Hell, Trek one of the reasons why I used to think that SF was liberal in general. (Poor sweet deluded me.) Kirk and Spock literally punched Nazis, after all. I'm not sure how much more explicit you need things be.

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[1] FYI, have you noticed the language used by bigots is often violent in nature? I have.  It's an over-reaction to a nonexistent threat. 
[2] And you know what? That scene crops up in my brain quite a bit these days because I'm involved with sponsoring writers of color for the Armadillocon Writer's Workshop. Is this guilt money? Fuck yes, it is. Have you read the statistics regarding writers of color getting published?