I know I shouldn't dwell on this kind of stuff, but every once in awhile, I see Black characters in sci fi movies or television shows, that go through crap that I just think is downright humiliating. And there is one television moment that pisses me off everytime I see it. And to get a true picture of what I'm talking about, we must journey back to the year 1967.
I am referring to an episode of the series, 'Star Trek' called 'Space Seed'. That is the infamous episode where Ricardo Montalban's classic character of Khan is introduced, and later shows back up in the film 'Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan'.
Some of you may remember this moment. Some may not and some may have thought nothing of it. But there was one point where Lt. Uhura, Dr. McCoy, Spock, Scotty and just about every other recognizable cast member, are in one room together, having been captured by Khan and his crew.
At one point, Khan looks at Uhura and says, 'you're the Communications Officer...' and he then tells her to get someone on the line or something. Well, Uhura wasn't about to do a damned thing Khan said! Hell, if she had, that could've been seen as treason or something! So she refuses.
One of Khan's men backhands her TWICE! And NONE of the other male crew members, tried to stop the man or interfere...EXCEPT for Khan! He just stopped the guy and said he would figure out another way or something. But Spock's behind just stood there looking stupid(he was excusable, only because of his Vulcan, seemingly sexless heritage). But Scotty's ass, I think Chekov was there, Dr. McCoy and Sulu just sat there and let Uhura get backhanded twice.
After that, I never liked any of the characters mentioned in my above paragraph, again(with the exception of Spock, who might've been truly clueless). And I would like to think that if Kirk had been in the room, he might have done something to stop Uhura, from at the very least, getting hit a second time. But that was a low point for Uhura, to me.
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