My point is while the Universe of Star Trek preaches tolerance and harmony among it's many different human and alien cultures in the show and prejudice and bigotry are a thing of the past,and In the fictional Organization of Starfleet there are Black,White,Female and ALIEN(male and female), commanding officers, (i.e. Captains and Admirals)
In Reality, for 3 seasons during the run of Deep Space Nine, Captain Benjamin Sisko (played by Avery Brooks) was a COMMANDER!
Captain Jean Luc Picard
Captain(later,Vice Admiral)Kathryn Janeway
Captain Jonathan Archer
I know what you are going to say: "No Way!"
but follow me here, I mean he made Captain eventually, but why was he a Commander for the first 3 seasons?
Were the powers that be(i.e. writers,producers,studio execs) at Paramount not too sure of how the "StarTrek" Audience would react to a "Black Captain"?
Also, during his commander days, he was STILL obviously the HEAD of the Space Station in the show, and the pics of the other 4 captains? They were all CAPTAINS from the first episode of their respective series until each went off the air.
Hmmmm, What do other 4 captains have in common?
I also find that an episode entitled "Far Beyond the Stars" has strange parallels the Reality of the situation
Here is the Plot:
"In the episode "Far
Beyond the Stars"", Sisko considers resigning his
commission after losing an old friend during the Dominion
War and the Prophets intervene making Sisko briefly live the
life of "Benny
Russell", a science fiction short story writer in 1950s America
. Every day, Russell faces the prejudices of his world - his
publisher does not even allow his photograph to be printed. Russell
writes a story called "Deep
Space Nine" that takes place in a universe without
prejudice and bigotry. However, his publisher refuses to release
the story because he makes the commander of the space
station a black man. This injustice eventually drives Benny
insane; and soon after, Sisko finds himself back in the 24th
century, understanding his place is aboard the station but
questioning the nature of reality."
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Now, with that being said, even though all shows have been off the
air for some time, I have been pondering that question for a long
time, and DS9 to me, is the BEST Star Trek series, hands down, and
it's NOT Because "The Captain was Black", the whole
show had some of the best writing, storylines and action
scenes out of the whole franchise, there were episodes not
even centered around the captain that were the BOMB!
So, my question is:Did they make Avery Brooks' character a
"commander" because they did not know how the trek
audience would react to a black Captain?
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Starfleet Rank and Insignia are listed below to give you a
clue:
Captain Commander Lt.Commander
Lieutenant Lieutenant
Jr.Grade Ensign
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So....Am I wrong?
or just being silly?
Tell me Shiners, Do you think there is racism in Star Trek?
What do you think?
You DON'T have to be "into" Star Trek to answer this question, just give your honest opinion based on what I said.
peace
V
