BlackGeekdom Science-Fiction from a Different Perspective

Surfing the internet as we are proned to do, I found an interesting website about Black Women in Science Fiction. I can’t tell when the last time the site was updated, but I found the list…curious.

Less than 9% of Science-Fiction television series have featured black women as main characters. And that is assuming you were to count recurring characters who were usually tossed in the background

Without taking time out to do the math, the number seems to be accurate enough; however, a more thorough study would be helpful. The main problem is that science-fiction writers are no different then writers in any genre. They write about things that reflect who they are, whether they do it consciously or not is another disscussion for another time. Of course, George Lucas cast Billy Dee Williams, but was there anyone cooler and more suave than him at the time who could play that character? Rick Berman cast Avery Brooks, but how could you not cast a great talent such as he. Keith Hamilton Cobb was perfect as Tyr, but do you remember seeing any other Nietzscheans that looked like him?

Back to the topic. Most of your science-fiction writers are white just like most other genres. Majority of the audience is white. So, it makes sense that things are the way they are. The only genre that gets it is the comic book genre. Characters of every minority are represented on every level and thoughout all types of comics. There are writers, artists, and charaters. Why is there such a disparity? Maybe the television and movie industry should focus on better stories and less on making sure they hit the right racial demographic. Generally, the average science fiction fan doesn’t care about race.

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