Complex Numbers

Make It So

I don't know if I can do this one without offending someone. But I'm going to try.

TV’s first interracial kiss launched a lifelong career in activism  

On Nov. 22, 1968, an episode of “Star Trek” titled “Plato’s Stepchildren” broadcast the first interracial kiss on American television.

So, that would be five years to the day after the JFK assassination, well into the civil rights / desegregation era. Laws changed. Lots of peoples' minds did not.

I was too young to watch it when it came out, but of course when I got old enough to catch reruns, I saw that and all the other episodes of Trek. I don't think it ever occurred to me to note the "interracial" aspect, and I was certainly ignorant of the history behind it. Kid Me was too busy being bothered by other aspects of that particular episode, as we'll see in a bit.

The episode’s plot is bizarre: Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew to sing, dance and kiss.

You know, as far as Trek episode summaries go, that's pretty tame. I'm trying to imagine being Roddenberry or Coon or whichever producer was responsible for hearing all the elevator pitches (yes, there were elevators back then), and having to go, "No... weirder."

Anyway, that was the part that I recall being scarred by as a child: the idea of aliens using mind powers to force others to do their bidding. Dance, my puppets! DANCE! (The episode, by the way, is worth watching just to see Nimoy doing his "I'm being forced to do this" dance.)

It was only later that the cultural significance of the Shatner/Nichols scene was pointed out to me. I mean, I lived in the South, not far from where the "Loving" in "Loving v. Virginia" came from, so I wasn't exactly sheltered from racism; I just thought of it as something only ignorant people believed in.

I guess I still do.

The smooch is not a romantic one. But in 1968 to show a black woman kissing a white man was a daring move.

As I see it, one of the main purposes of science fiction is not to show how things will be, but how they could be. This includes social change.

But just as significant is Nichols’s off-screen activism. She leveraged her role on “Star Trek” to become a recruiter for NASA, where she pushed for change in the space program. Her career arc shows how diverse casting on the screen can have a profound impact in the real world, too.

The rest of the article pretty much focuses on Nichelle Nichols, which as far as I'm concerned is a good thing. But it's impossible to talk about Nichols without mentioning Uhura, and especially that episode of Star Trek. So it's good to get that bit out of the way.

Nichols’ controversial kiss took place at the end of the third season.

Flag on the play: it was the middle of the third (and final) season.

It's worth taking a look at the bits I'm not quoting here; the article is pretty short and details Nichols' efforts to advocate for inclusion.

Star Trek is, of course, fiction, but the stories we're told influence the way we see the world. The show was far from perfect, but it tried to demonstrate the benefits of diversity at a time of great social change. And who knows; maybe someday life will imitate art.