Who made her black?
Gene Roddenberry.
If he wrote her character as black then the answer is “diversity purely for diversity’s sake”. “Look! We have a black person!”
Edit: Since I assume the goal was to show the multi-national/ethnic crew of Earth traveling into space, “diversity for diversity’s sake” is probably accurate. Seems to be about the same for QC – “There’s a trans person and it’s meaningless, see how enlightened it is?”
I think it would be worse if an author/artist/creator only included diversity for the sake of having a Very Special Episode rather than simply having a diverse cast. Like life.
NO! DIVERSITY IS A TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE THING! (Courtesy of Jeph’s buddy David Willis.)
(If I were less lazy, or Shortpacked!'s archives were smaller (or DW tagged them less randomly outside of character names), I’d seek out the specific strip he did specifically addressing the idea that if you create a character who’s anything but the ‘default’ (straight, white, cisgender dude), it needs to be ALL ABOUT them being not-SWCD. Needless to say he didn’t speak highly of the idea.)
There may be a slightly excluded middle between “being ALL ABOUT” a character’s identity, and that identity having no impact whatsoever on the strip (other than, of course, apparently being a total secret to most of the characters - for some reason).
Because the default human doesn’t have to be a straight white man? Because there are black and gay and trans and latino and skinny and short and shy and ginger people in the world and just casting everyone as a straight white man is completely insane?
Why should Uhura need a story to all about her blackness? Does Kirk need a story to explain why he’s a man? Or why he loves poon so much? Or is Kirk just a white man who loves poon and Uhura is a black woman who likes to dance with fans and Claire is a ginger trans woman who likes Martin and that’s all OK and part of the human condition?
Yes, thank you, that was my point.
Jesus Christ.
This.
Do you genuinely not understand why a transsexual person would be reticent about broadcasting that news to everyone they know?
Also, Claire coming out as trans was, in fact, a major plot point that set up significant story and character notes. The fact that she came out to Marten, and only Marten, was a clear signal that she had serious romantic interest in him. Possibly the first such indication, but I’d have to read back through the archives to establish that, and I don’t have the time right now. It also establishes major character notes for her and her brother, helping to explain her own lack of social experience, and Clinton’s hilarious over-protectiveness of her. (Marten being open minded enough to date her is, I think, not a particularly significant character development for him - it’s pretty much exactly what I would have expected given his characterization to date.)
And all that aside, it still brings us back to the Uhuru question. At no point, as far as I can remember, was Uhuru’s race ever a plot or character point in any episode of Star Trek. Was that a flaw in Roddenberry’s writing? If not, why would it be any different for Claire?
And lastly, you all realize the comics not over yet, right? Jeph’s still drawing them. The fact that a plot point hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen.
I don’t disagree and would rather have the “message” being that no one cares rather than having a string of Very Special Episodes.
But Claire’s gender HAS been a plot point here so it seems fair to talk about it and WHY it was a plot point and what it means or doesn’t mean and where he’s going with it. Claire could have just as easily been trans but it was never mentioned just as no one ever mention Uhuru’s race. But when you dedicate several strips to discussing it then it’s obviously “important” in that nothing occurs in the QC universe without one guy deciding that it should occur and is worthy of discussion, speculation or expectation that it’ll be meaningful.
Incidentally, you are all KILLING this Trekkie, inch by agonizing inch of this thread! It’s UhurA, not UhurU!
Abraham Lincoln did! And so did Uhura herself, albeit only indirectly, with the famous “Sorry, neither” quip.
I blame Miller! 
Meh. I like Star Wars better anyway.
I always felt the same way about [del]Uhuru[/del] Lando in Star [del]Trek[/del] Wars. If you’re never going to do a story that’s about [del]her[/del] him being black, why make [del]her[/del] him black in the first place?
:smack:
Which was…? The ref’s not ringing a bell.
Sigh. And then he added another strip which I feel undercuts this one.
Sometimes great art is knowing when to stop.