Lastly, one episode of Star Trek is a clear statement on racism and its inherent disutility. "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" (airdate 1/10/69) is about two half-white half-black beings from the planet Cheron who bring their senseless racial struggle to the Enterprise. Lokai is the first to come aboard the Enterprise- he arrives in a stolen shuttlecraft asking for asylum. His pursuer, Bele, soon afterwards arrives on the Enterprise asking to take Lokai back to their home planet to stand trial for political crimes. Bele explains to Captain Kirk at one point his reason for wanting to take Lokai back to Cheron. Apparently, Lokai and others like him are considered inferior because they are black on the right side of their bodies while Bele's
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The parallels between this episode and the Civil Rights struggle in America are uncanny. In the United States, in addition to people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who were advocating peaceful change and Senator Stromm Thurmond of South Carolina who was advocating the status quo, extremest groups based on hatred and anger existed on the playing field. Malcom X, a radical Black activist, advocated a violent uprising by Blacks against Whites (in essence, "Kill Whitey!). There was also the Black Panthers, a militant Black organization that was prepared to seemingly start another civil war with all the weaponry it managed to procure. On the other side of the spectrum, there were the Ku Klux Klan and other White hate groups. What all these individuals and groups have in common is a fierce, uncontrolable hatred of those opposed to them, much like Bele and Lokai in this episode. The message to them is simple: hatred and violence will bring about everyone's destruction. Indeed, it was peaceful change that eventually brought about the major reforms in civil rights in this country, not the violent uprisings or supressions that the extremest groups
The parallels between this episode and the Civil Rights struggle in America are uncanny. In the United States, in addition to people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who were advocating peaceful change and Senator Stromm Thurmond of South Carolina who was advocating the status quo, extremest groups based on hatred and anger existed on the playing field. Malcom X, a radical Black activist, advocated a violent uprising by Blacks against Whites (in essence, "Kill Whitey!). There was also the Black Panthers, a militant Black organization that was prepared to seemingly start another civil war with all the weaponry it managed to procure. On the other side of the spectrum, there were the Ku Klux Klan and other White hate groups. What all these individuals and groups have in common is a fierce, uncontrolable hatred of those opposed to them, much like Bele and Lokai in this episode. The message to them is simple: hatred and violence will bring about everyone's destruction. Indeed, it was peaceful change that eventually brought about the major reforms in civil rights in this country, not the violent uprisings or supressions that the extremest groups