MLK's dream job: Part I

On Jan. 16, the West Las Vegas Library will have a film festival where movies about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be screened. The following day, members of the Coalition to Prevent the Erosion of Human Rights will be marching as part of a parade honoring Dr. King. The people from CPEHR will be meeting at 9 a.m. on the 17th at Fourth Street and Gass Avenue. At 10 a.m., the march will take them north along Fourth to Stewart.

Last year, it seemed as if the shadow cast by gathering war clouds completely obscured Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- which was a shame, since the very idea of King having a national holiday in America is miraculous. Why? Given American history, it's a sign of human evolution.

It's a known fact that Dr. King was a hardcore Trekkie. So much so he single-handedly kept actress Nichelle Nichols from quitting "Star Trek" by citing how important it was for blacks to be seen enjoying a positive future by the masses.

As white supremacist author Ward Kendall wrote in his article "Why There May Never Be A Captain Kirk":

"If present immigration trends and falling white birth rates continue unabated, the end result will be total extinction for all whites on Earth within two hundred years. As a result, Captain Kirk will never be born -- at least, not the Captain Kirk we're all familiar with."

Well, before my recent interview with David Gerrold -- a former "Star Trek" writer who's credited with creating the ravenous Tribbles -- I read his 1973 book The World of Star Trek. In it, Gerrold contrasts Kendall's fear of Ice T and Mariah Carey-looking descendants with a bit of Vulcan logic:

"'Star Trek' should have begun to use more and more members of minorities, not less. Despite the fact that most of the world's technology is presently dominated by white-skinned Human beings, it will not always remain so. The stars and the planets will not be colonized by the Ku Klux Klan."

When it comes to dealing with a multicultural future, I've found most whites are evolving -- albeit at a glacial pace. However, when it comes to economics ...

When President Lyndon Johnson planned to divert funds from the War on Poverty to the Vietnam War in December 1966, Dr. King went plumb off. An online article by Jay Johansen headlined "The World View of Star Trek" best describes the futuristic vision King was such a fan of: "It closely resembles the utopian communist society imagined by radicals of the '30s and the '60s. There is no money, for everyone simply works out of a desire to contribute to society and help his fellow man, and takes back only what he needs. Private enterprise is the enemy, at best an amusing throwback to less enlightened times, at worst a dangerous villain to be fought and defeated."

That's right, no money.

According to an episode of "Star Trek: Voyager": "Money went the way of the dinosaur" by the dawn of the 22nd century, thanks to "The New World Economy." Or as the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, said right before his death in 1991:

"Money is a terrible thing. Why do people work at jobs in 'Star Trek'? Why does someone become a baker? Because the family is going to starve to death? No. People become bakers because certain people love the smell of things baking."

In other words, humans in the future aren't forced to work a day job. People in "Star Trek" only work their dream jobs, and everyone's labor of love provides -- via barter -- everyone else with whatever they desire.

Unfortunately, on a website called "The Economics of Star Trek," sci-fi fan Michael Wong demonstrates a prejudice against his own kind (assuming he's human and not a Klingon) when he writes that humanity is just too lazy and greedy to achieve a New World Economy.

"If Humans in the future no longer desire wealth, then why [don't they have this desire]?" Wong writes. "Do they use extremely advanced brainwashing techniques, so sophisticated that no one can resist them?"

Gerrold inadvertently alludes to the answer in his book: "[The characters] have a much nobler outlook than most of us seem to have. At least, they appear to be more able to live up to those goals which too many of us only pay lip service to in our lives."

In his book Blood of Revolution, Erik Durschmied wrote: "Revolutionaries learn to copy their predecessors. Man simply cannot stand the strain of a prolonged effort to live in accordance with high ideals."

So basically, the much nobler humans of "Star Trek" treat high ideals like Dr. King's dream as seriously as you treat sports and sex scandals. They evolved!

Next week, the battle to bring the dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gene Roddenberry to life continues, when I cover the King Day parade and CPEHR's role in it.

Saab Lofton's first novel got him kicked out of one college yet helped him get his degree from a better college two years later, making him living proof that karma exists. Lofton barely makes ends meet by freelance writing and drawing portraits for tips.