One of my favorite Star Trek episodes is called "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield." The original Star Trek was known for tackling social issues of the day, and this episode has been considered one of the most heavy-handed episodes out of the original series. From season three, filmed in 1968 and first aired on January 10, 1969, it spins a tale of racism on an alien world.
"You're black on one side and white on the other."
"I am black on the right side."
"I fail to see the significant difference."
"Lokai is white on the right side. All of his people are white on the right side."
- Captain Kirk and Bele
The story is about a world where some of the people are white on the right side, black on the left side, and others are white on the left side, black on the right side. As Captain Kirk said in the quote above to Bele, played by
James Frank Gorshin, "I fail to see the significant difference."
This tale could easily be told again today as history continues to repeat itself in regards to race in America. Now, I have never understood racists. How in their minds they are superior to someone else just because of skin pigmentation? This week I was reminded of how far we have yet to go in regards to becoming a society where the pigmentation of a person's skin determines how a community judges them.
A dear friend of mine, someone I have known since kindergarten, took her children to a fast food restaurant. During a previous visit to a fast food drive-thru the person in front of her paid for her meal. She paid it forward by giving the money she was going to spend on lunch to a homeless man in the parking lot. This day an older man came into the store where my friend was with her children. He had gone through the drive-thru and did not have the money to pay for his meal. My friend overheard the exchange and as the man went out to dig in his car for loose change she went to the manager of the restaurant and paid for the man's meal.
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When the man came back instead offering his thanks he stated, "Well that's a first, a black person with enough money to pay for something other than drugs." My friend is embarrassed by her response to this man and she wants to remain anonymous. I won't write her name or response here, but she needn't be embarrassed by anything she said that day. Her anger was raw and palpable. This man said this to her in front of her children. She is one of the most generous people I know, is a proud mother, and has a smile that can light up a room. There is a photo of the two of us from our 25th class reunion I wish I could share here. In it I see two kindergartners who played tag on the playground together.
I don't know why this racist piece of crap could not just offer his thanks. His hatred of my friend, based not on her actions, not on her character, but on the pigmentation of her skin. It is his loss—he missed out on meeting one of the most wonderful people I have ever had the opportunity to know.
"There was persecution on Earth once. I remember reading about it in my history class."
"Yes, but it happened way back in the twentieth century. There's no such primitive thinking today."
- Chekov and Sulu, trying to understand Cheron's civil war
We are now in the twenty-first century and there are still small-minded people who still think in primitive ways.
"All that matters to them is their hate."
"Do you suppose that's all they ever had, sir?"
"No, but that's all they have left."
- Spock, Uhura and Kirk, after Bele and Lokai return to Cheron
I do not want to live in a world where all we have left is our hate. We all have something to contribute, we all have something to give. The color of one's skin should not matter any more than the color of one's eyes.