MARCH 1, 2021 - The official Star Trek website at StarTrek.com has published a new article examining the rising wave of violence against Asian-American and Pacific Islanders (or AAPI) people, and asking Trek fans to stand with them against violence, hate and racism.

The article argues that we should band together in a multi-faceted approach: denounce individual acts of racism, as well as examine the societal issues that allow violence to flourish. And we can use Star Trek (and other science fiction) as a model. The article’s author, Mike Chen, points out that “at its best, science fiction holds a mirror up to our society. In some cases, this helps us see ourselves the way we want to be seen, shepherding both progress and normalization towards a just and equitable society.”

He holds up Star Trek: Discovery’s third season as an example. The crisis of The Burn, he says, “propagates into a generational trauma, fracturing alliances and leaving species and systems to fend for themselves.” Michael Burnham’s solution, digging into the cause of The Burn, allows The Federation, Chen says, “to repair broken bonds, while equally building a sustainable foundation, so the Federation does more than just return.”

Chen applies this example to the modern-day crisis of AAPI violence and argues that, like the cause of The Burn, we have to address systemic racism and the “myth of the ‘model minority’” (the idea that Asian-Americans are somehow “better” minorities than others, which serves only to drive a wedge between different marginalized groups). Without addressing the violence’s root causes, punitive action against individual acts has little impact.

The end of StarTrek.com’s article is a collection of thought-provoking quotes from Asian-American Star Trek actors, including George Takei, Garrett Wang and Patty Yasutake. For resources on understanding and preventing AAPI violence, visit stopaapihate.org. In the meantime, you can ponder this quote from Patty Yasutake, who played Nurse Ogawa in Star Trek: The Next Generation:

“Apathy towards injustice is complicity. Be outraged.”