Good Morning SuperForest!
I am in awe this day of the power of ideas to literally change our minds.
Case in point, Captain Kirk kisses Uhura.
In 1968, during an episode of Star Trek, Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura shared a tense smooch. This brief smeck represented the first time on television where a white man and a black woman were shown kissing. The very first time. In 1968. Wow.
Imagine what this must have been like to a young mind raised in the rural South. Imagine if you’d been told all your life that black people were inferior to white people, and then you’re sitting watching Star Trek and see Kirk and Uhura smooch.
I can imagine the confusion that these images must have caused. An interracial kiss? How audacious! How shocking! How provocative! Why, if I’ve been told how negative every race is but white, do I feel oddly aroused by what I just saw?
We’ve changed a lot since ’68.
How amazing that something as benign as Star Trek could plant such a powerful piece of anti-virus software in so many minds! Black people and white people can kiss on television now! Black is beautiful!
America’s cultural taboo against interracial relationships was shattered that day. Not obliterated entirely, but smashed wide open. All thanks to Star Trek.
This post is dedicated to Gene Roddenberry, Nichelle Nichols, William Shatner, and everyone on the cast and crew of Star Trek. You’ve done the human species a solid, y’all. Thank you.
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