"Black to the Future" or "Race: The Final Frontier"

I saw Wall-E on Friday, and it was a truly awesome movie that touched upon a lot of key themes about humanity and the future. I highly recommend it to everyone... but that's not the central topic of this blog entry. My wife pointed out one minor flaw in the movie, and it's a common flaw in science fiction: WHY ARE THERE ONLY WHITE PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE???

Sure, you may be saying that it's a minor oversight, and I shouldn't be concerned... but this is not an isolated incident. Let's have an overview of the future according to science fiction:

• The Jetsons: Where the hell are all the non-White people in the Jetsons? They were either wiped out (by causes that I'm not prepared to speculate on) or they are all living on the ground, while white people live in an ethnically homogenous utopian world in the clouds. That's just terrible, especially since this is a cartoon for children. In summary: No minorites to be found anywhere.
  
• Battlestar Galactica: As Royal Pinguo and I watched the first episode of the new series, we were eager to know if minorities had a place in the BG universe. We were excited whenever we saw them, but we didn't find very many. We also noticed that most of them were doing the grunt work on Galactica. It's kinda sad because aside from Grace Park, most of the important/central characters are White. Also, if you remember the episode "Black Market", you may be shot in the head if you are a Black underground crime lord, only to be replaced by a non-Black underground crime lord... but that is considered okay. In summary: Unless you're White (or a young attractive Korean woman) you're not likely to be important in the BG universe.
• Star Wars: There are Black people in Star Wars... well actually it might only be Lando and Mace Windu. In terms of Asians, supposedly there was one Asian pilot who slammed his X-wing into an imperial starship in Return of the Jedi. Boy, I'm sure that's something all Asians are proud of. There's a more thorough rant about Asians in Star Wars to be found here. In summary: Minorities are present but under-represented. However, some are actually in positions of authority. (I also acknowledge that Star Wars takes place a long time ago, so technically it's not the future.)
  
• Star Trek: I have a soft spot for Star Trek, so this is not entirely unbiased. Nonetheless, the inclusions of minorities has always been a central theme for Gene Roddenberry. Uhura and Sulu were prominent characters that were always given screen time, even if they were not considered the central characters. Nichelle Nichols was once told by Martin Luthur King Jr. that her role served as a role model to others in the Black community. I will be the first to admit that Uhura's role on the ship was pretty ridiculous, but King's point was that an inter-racial crew working together was something for humanity to aspire to. In the newer Star Trek series, there has always been an effort to be inclusive of many ethnic groups. In summary: Good job, Star Trek.

So there you have it. Some science fiction is very attentive to the fact that the future is a multi-ethnic experience, and some of them don't really give much thought to it and provide you with an ethnically homogeneous society (which is almost always a White one). I know that ethnic equality was not the central theme of Wall-E, but simply making everyone White makes an unintended statement... and it's not a minor one.