Racism on Alien Planets in Science Fiction

[Timothy Hunter]

A common trope in sci fi are alien species that either look exactly like humans or very close to humans. Look at Krypton from the Superman franchise or a third of the aliens in Star Trek.

Science Fiction has been used as allegory for social commentary and exploration of race relations and bigotry have not been exempt. However when these issues are discussed, racism is usually portrayed between two different species such as the Cardassians and Bajorans from Deep Space Nine rather than on the basis of ethnicity.

This makes sense. When trying to address real world issues using science fiction, you usually want to portray the subject matter in a more fantastical manner than you would otherwise. Still, I think it's a missed opportunity.

[Zelena]

A common trope in sci fi are alien species that either look exactly like humans or very close to humans. Look at Krypton from the Superman franchise or a third of the aliens in Star Trek.

Science Fiction has been used as allegory for social commentary and exploration of race relations and bigotry have not been exempt. However when these issues are discussed, racism is usually portrayed between two different species such as the Cardassians and Bajorans from Deep Space Nine rather than on the basis of ethnicity.

This makes sense. When trying to address real world issues using science fiction, you usually want to portray the subject matter in a more fantastical manner than you would otherwise. Still, I think it's a missed opportunity.

I think a problem a science-fiction author would have if he/she doesn’t imagine something very obvious, it’s how explaining where this racism comes from, why someone with a purple skin would be held in contempt by people with a green skin. Without an historical background, it doesn’t make any sense to an outside observer.

[Kirby101]

The Left Hand of Darkness had inter-species racism. As did the black and white people episode of Star Trek TOS.

[JackDaw]

There’s a couple of time travel books I’ve read that deal with racism:-

Robert Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold, set in a future where whites are slaves to blacks.

Octavia Butlers Kindred which deals with slavery via travel into the past.

In addition…Octavia B (a wonderful writer) wrote a series of books effectively exploring slavery in other ways, sometimes via the rise of mutants in human society, sometimes via inter-species set-ups.

[Jackalope89]

Mass Effect series touches on it.

Humans against Turians from the First Contact War.
Most races against Krogan.
Many treat Quarians as second class.
Hanar for their religion and having a striking resemblance to Earth jellyfish.
Cerberus Loyalists against well, all the other races.
Quarians against the Geth.

Yeah, there's a fair amount in the series. And I'm sure I only touched on the surface of it.

[Iron Maiden]

The Left Hand of Darkness had inter-species racism. As did the black and white people episode of Star Trek TOS.

I recall that one. Frank Gorshin was one of the actors playing the aliens. The criminal he was chasing was black on one side of his face and white on the other. But whereas one would be white on the left side the other would be black.

I think you even see some racism against Spock in a lot of the early episodes, especially in Balance of Terror (one of my favorites) where we saw that the Romulans looked like Vulcans.

There was another episode in the 2nd or 3rd season where a certain class of people where deemed to be good enough only to work in the mines while others lived in the fancy homes, etc. They claimed the ones who worked in the mines were rebellious and of inferior intelligence but it turned out there was some kind of gaseous fumes that effected peoples moods so that they were prone to anger and dulled their senses.

[Gray Lensman]

Season 5 of Babylon 5 had an episode with the consequences of racism between two species who shared the same world - they were close enough to interbreed and the dominant one eventually wiped out the other, but without them, they couldn't survive either. And in season one there was an alien weapon created to preserve the purity of their race, but it was programmed by religious lunatics - no one could truly meet the definition of purity, and they were all destroyed by their own creation.

[norj]

In Star Wars Legends there is a race of near-humans called the Arkanians who are split into two races the Pure-bloods and the Off-shoots, the offshoots are the result of Arkanian corporations using genetic engineering to create specialized workers, not only did the offshoots face discrimination from the the pure-bloods, but sometimes Arkanian elites would launch purges of the offshoot population. The most revered Arkanian was a jedi master named Arca Jeth who was a offshoot, but the Arkanian government altered all all public images of him to make look like a pureblood. The really ridiculous thing is that Pure-blood Arkanians are like all near-humans are an offshoot of the human species.

[babyblob]

I remember the Star Trek Xmen Crossover novel Planet X. TNG Crew and the Xmen deal with a planet where Mutants are starting to appear. I figured since the Comics were a metaphor for Racism then the book fits in that mode.

[Timothy Hunter]

Mass Effect series touches on it.

Humans against Turians from the First Contact War.
Most races against Krogan.
Many treat Quarians as second class.
Hanar for their religion and having a striking resemblance to Earth jellyfish.
Cerberus Loyalists against well, all the other races.
Quarians against the Geth.

Yeah, there's a fair amount in the series. And I'm sure I only touched on the surface of it.

Many of those examples are between two different alien races. I'm talking more about racism among members of the same species

[Johnathan]

The Left Hand of Darkness had inter-species racism. As did the black and white people episode of Star Trek TOS.

Yeah, that Star Trek episode is actually not a very good one except for the scene where they explain the difference in such a ridiculous way.

Of course, the Romulan oppression of the Remans was the basis of one of the Next Generation films as well, and there is a lot of prejudice and tension between different alien races all throughout Star Trek.

[Zelena]

Many of those examples are between two different alien races. I'm talking more about racism among members of the same species

Is there such a difference? In the current X-men run, there’s racism between “humans” and “mutants” as they are of different species and yet, genetically, they are the same species.

[Jim Kelly]

I can't believe no one yet has mentioned "Judgement Day" by Al Feldstein and Joe Orlando. Mind you, the "species" aren't very human, being robots, but they do act like humans.

The story first appeared in WEIRD FANTASY 18 (March-April 1953). There's a full discussion of it by Brian Cronin, "The Anti-Racism Comic Book Story That Beat the Comics Code Authority."
https://www.cbr.com/judgment-day-ec-...ode-authority/

The story essentially concerns an astronaut from Earth sent to a planet of sentient robots to evaluate them for entry into the Galactic Alliance. There are orange robots and blue robots--the orange robots have greater advantages in society. The astronaut, who wears a helmet throughout the story in the alien atmosphere, calls them out on their discrimination and at the end of the story, as he leaves on board his rocket ship, he removes his helmet to reveal he's a black man.

When Bill Gaines was going to reprint this story in INCREDIBLE SCIENCE FICTION 33 (January-February 1956)--as a last minute substitution for a story that the Comics Code Authority had rejected--the Authority rejected this story, as well. Gaines went ahead and published the comic book anyway--and that was the last regular-sized, colour comic book E.C. published (Gaines continued with just MAD in black & white magazine format, outside the Comics Code).

When I watch "Far Beyond the Stars," DEEP SPACE NINE season 6, episode 13, where Sisko is a writer for a science fiction magazine in the 1950s, it makes me think of "Judgement Day."

[ed2962]

I sorta remember an 80's Fantastic Four cartoon ( which may or may not been based on a real comic, I'm not sure?) where an alien race kidnapped Thing to fight as a gladiator in their war against another race. One of the aliens tells Ben about how hideous the other race supposedly is. When we finally meet the "other" aliens, they look exactly like the first race. The first alien goes, "What do you mean? Their eyes are green where our eyes are Blue!! As all true eyes should be!"

[shooshoomanjoe]

There is the blue Kree feeling superior to the pink Kree in Marvel comics. In the original Guardians of the Galaxy, there was a character called 85 and hinted that the blue Kree caged and numbered the pink Kree.