I’m Indigenous Canadian … full blooded long brown haired Indian … so it was always important for people like me to see people of colour in all these shows. It gives everyone hope that we can create a more open and inclusive civilization in the future.
My dad was born and raised in the bush and although he understood the English language he never spoke it and preferred to speak only our Ojibway/Cree language. He was a very intelligent man who could leave civilizatation in the autumn with nothing and come back in the winter with a supply of animal furs. He didn’t know much about the outside wider world and when he saw me and my brothers watching Star Trek The Next Generation … he asked us how he thought it was amazing that humans were roaming space now. It amazed me that the acting and production of TNG was done well enough to convince my dad that it was real. I told him right away it wasn’t real but it impressed him … and it impressed me … and it still impresses me to this day.
Here’s an interview with Nichelle Nichols being encouraged by Dr Martin Luther King Jr who was one of her greatest fans.
"And I’m thinking a Trekker, you know. And I turn, and before I could get up, I looked across the way and there was the face of Dr. Martin Luther King smiling at me and walking toward me. And he started laughing. By the time he reached me, he said, yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan. I am that Trekkie. And I was speechless. He complimented me on the manner in which I’d created the character. I thanked him, and I think I said something like, Dr. King, I wish I could be out there marching with you. He said, no, no, no. No, you don’t understand. We don’t need you on the - to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for. So, I said to him, thank you so much. And I’m going to miss my co-stars. And his face got very, very serious. And he said, what are you talking about? And I said, well, I told Gene just yesterday that I’m going to leave the show after the first year because I’ve been offered - and he stopped me and said: You cannot do that. And I was stunned. He said, don’t you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen. He says, do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch. I was speechless.
https://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942461/Star-Treks-Uhura-Reflects-On-MLK-Encounter
She’s one of my favorite parts of SNW. When Mariner is a fangirl over meeting her makes me crack up every time.
