Introduction
Science Fiction (sci-fi) is a fascinating genre with an endless possibility of worlds to explore. However, you won’t often find many brown or Black people like me in them, or anyone who isn’t an allo, cis, het, white male. And this is a shame since blerds (Black/brown nerds) are starving to see themselves as space captains, genetically engineered super soldiers, or mutant superheroes.
At its heart, sci-fi is about exploring the human condition through the wonders of science and technology, so why then are people of color often omitted from these stories? As with most things, history provides an insight.
A Brief History of Sci-fi
Science Fiction arguable began with Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, which made used of the then-new technology of electricity. Following in her footsteps, came writers like Jules Verne, and HG Wells, whose works Two Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Time Machine remain seminal works.
But despite its radical beginnings, the genre became dominated by white men such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke, leading to stories full of white male heroes who conquered aliens, when they weren’t sleeping with them. Radio and print soon took notice of these stories, spawning the rise of sci-fi pulp writers in the 1920s and radio serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century.
With World War I came the Red Scare, and Martians were the enemy de jour as stand-ins for the threat of Communism.
A similar shift happened when we entered the atomic age at the end of World War II; the focus became nuclear power and the wonders and horrors that could be spawned from it. With the knowledge mankind could wipe itself out with the push of a button, the Cold War began and led to perhaps the most iconic franchises ever: Star Wars and Star Trek.
Trek vs Wars
While Star Trek was more utopian in its vision of the future, it still suffered from the same lack of diversity, and even as the franchise progressed it wasn’t until the ‘90s’ Deep Space Nine that blerds got their first Black Star Fleet Captain. Likewise, Star Wars didn’t get its first onscreen Black Jedi until the prequel trilogy in the early 2000s, with Mace Windu.
For works spanning multiple galaxies, they sure seem to have an overabundance of white folks. What, did Black and brown people go extinct or something?
Every step of the way, as technology and science have advanced, so has sci-fi, one often influencing the other. Items we take for granted like smart technology or bionic limbs were once only science fiction. Yet the fact remains you’re more likely to find aliens of every hue than you are to find Black folks and people of color in sci-fi.
Space Nazis
In many works, especially those of Robert Heinlein, space is treated as yet another frontier for allo, cis, het, white men to conquer. And anyone or species that gets in their way must be disposed of with their plasma riffle or energy cannons. This militaristic view of space has lent itself to space becoming yet another venue for white supremacy.
As I’ve mentioned previously, aliens become stand-ins for the boogeymen of the day, or worse become coded as various ethnic groups. That proud warrior race doesn’t seem so innocuous when you notice they have dark skin and other features associated with people of color. Likewise, how humans treat aliens unlike them, versus those like them in both appearance and culture is so coded as a metaphor for racism you might as well call them space Nazis. The number of books and movies where the evil aliens try to destroy Earth or human astronauts are nearly endless. And in each case the hero is most often a white guy. Why?
Mighty Whitey
This in and of itself is bad enough, but then these white, mostly male characters are always proficient at what they do, often being the best in the universe a la Rick Sanchez, Han Solo, James T. Kirk, or Buckeroo Banzai. In each case these, protagonists can do no wrong. In story after story, they either conquer the alien species they encounter or save them.
In Avatar, Jake Sully John learns the Navis’ ways quickly then liberates them from the space mercenaries he used to work for. Likewise, John Carter schools the Martians, and in the original Star Trek Captain Kirk spends most of his rime bedding alien women. I could go on, but I think you get my point.
Sidekick Ho!
If Black, brown, and other people of color appear at all, they are relegated to the role of sidekicks or supporting cast members as was the case for Rose and Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Moreover, in Star Trek, the original series, Lt. Nyota Uhara was little more than a glorified call center operator. And while Mr. Sulu got more screen time, he was never the main character.
Similarly, on The Next Generation, Jodie LaForge was banished to the engine room, and while Worf , who was played by Black actor Michael Dorn, got to go on missions, yet you couldn’t tell he was Black because of his makeup. And even then, it was always the white Will Ricker who was second-in-command. And as for Guinan being added in the later seasons, two words: magical negro.
Attempts to diversify sci-fi have been met with fan backlashes, such as the Nebula Awards voting controversy. From 2013-2016 a bloc of disgruntled white male fans calling themselves the Sad Puppies tried to influence the results of the vote by only voting for their favorite (white male) writers. However, their campaigns were ultimately unsuccessful due to the rules regarding bloc voting being changed prior to the 2018 awards.
Furthermore, when it was revealed that the latest Star Wars trilogy would focus of Rey, a woman, the fan backlash was shift with cries of how Disney had ruined their beloved fandom. Moreover, Actor John Boyega who played former Storm Trooper Finn, also had to deal with racist comments hurled at him when promos for The Last Jedi hinted at Finn’s being Force-sensitive and having a romantic relationship with Rey. And Kelly Marie Tran, who played mechanic Rose Tico, also had to deal with racist comments. While more needs to be done to diversify sci-fi, there will always be a group of basement-dwelling, neckbeard, trolls who get off on owning the special snowflakes. So where do we begin?
A New Hope
It’s not as though Black and brown writers haven’t been writing in the genre for decades. You had the works of Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, and many other speculative fiction writers from the African Diaspora. Yet it is only in recent years that Black and brown writers have started to gain wide-spread notoriety, such as Nebula-Award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, and indigenous writer Nalo Hopkinson.
Moreover, marginalized sci-fi writers are taking it upon themselves to make the genre more inclusive. Case in point is Dhonielle Clayton’s organization We Need Diverse Books has pushed for more diverse in every genre, and has recently released A Universe of Wishes, an anthology of speculative fiction by Black, brown, and other marginalized writers.
Increasingly, marginalized authors are turning to independent and self-publishing to fill the void for diverse sci-fi books. But what can you do to support them?
First, buy their books and review them. Second, if you can’t buy them, then request them from your library. Third, spread the word; tell your friends and family about these books and post about them on your blog or on social media. Fourth, if a sci-fi book you want to read doesn’t exist, then write it. Ultimately, change starts with us.
Conclusion
sci-fi is a wonderous playground of the imagination, so it saddens me to see a dearth of creativity when it comes to having diverse characters in these stories. Let me pause here a moment. I’m not saying all Sci-Fi writers past and present are racist, but the genre does suffer from Eurocentrism and could stand to allow in new voices and perspectives.
But as with all things, you can’t wave a wand and make everything better. We have to be better: writers, editors, and fandoms. Writers need to stop relying on clichés and formulaic writing, take risks, and experiment to create new plots, characters, and settings. Editors need to stop focusing on what sells so much and instead on what makes you think and question things. And fans need to embrace change and new things. This doesn’t mean we can’t have the same old stories as before; sci-fi can hold all kinds of stories, and it’s time we expanded its fictional universes to include everyone.
No comment yet, add your voice below!