"Our durn 'racists are dun' The portrayal of racists in science fiction

(According to the Star Wars novels,
the Emperor was a notorious racist, hence the
image).

One of my pet peeves with science fiction is the stupidity of its portrayals of racists. Apparently, to be a racist, you must either be a corporate executive or someone whose IQ is below 80. No where is there any indication that racism often comes from understandable but misguided concerns about economic and social competition with other racial groups. Instead, the portrayal of racist groups in science fiction aligns them with the "dumb working class", as if there's only nice regular Joe working class guys who don't complain, or on the other hand racist white snobs. Sorry to break it to you, Hollywood, but not every racist only graduated from the fourth grade. Science fiction series like Babylon 5 (i.e the Homeguard) spread the comfortable illusion that racism can be eliminated with education. British series are much more perceptive in this regard, with racism being used as a tool of government policy in Doctor Who (Genesis of the Daleks) and Blake's 7. Too often, too, the anti-racist character is identified with the white middle class - James T. Kirk, Picard, etc. Issues of racial separatism are rarely addressed, as every one lives in a multiculturalist harmony. This is problematic, I believe, because it assumes without cause that diversity is what everyone wants and that it is infinitely desirable. Yet many black separatists (and even a few white separatists) merely want to be left alone by those of other races, so much do they not trust those people. Science fiction has never been able to address the issue that we may, ultimately, not all want to get along.

For anyone interested in a more complex portrayal of racism than can be found in most Hollywood pics, I suggest you see two films: The Believer and This is England (neither sci-fi). These films are far more nuanced in their portrayal of race relations than is typical in Hollywood. The sci-fi novels of Octavia Butler as well as the sci-fi classic Black No More, are also a good place to start.