Joseph and Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek's 24th century New Orleans
Friday, September 02, 2005
Star Trek and New Orleans: What Bettering Ourselves Really Means
by William S. Kowinski
In the Star Trek universe, New Orleans is a vibrant city in the 24th century with strong ties to its past. Captain Benjamin Sisko, commander of Deep Space 9, grew up there, and for his first few weeks at Starfleet Academy, beamed back for dinner with his family there every night. Viewers saw him return there several times over the years to the Creole restaurant of his father, Joseph Sisko. The elder Sisko was a symbol not only of the continuity of family through the generations—from Joseph to Benjamin to Jake Sisko, Star Trek’s first three generation family—but his restaurant was a symbol of old values and culture that were still important, still necessary in the Star Trek future.
We are reminded of this not only by the recent death of Brock Peters, who played Joseph Sisko, but most of all by the incredible devastation in New Orleans during the last week of August 2005. At this moment, officials are trying to completely evacuate the city. They estimate it will be weeks or months before some of its residents can safely return (others have no homes left to return to), and years before the city can rebuild. Huge amounts of toxic industrial waste carried in the floodwaters may be very difficult and very expensive to eliminate. There is even some question whether the city will be habitable in the foreseeable future, and some have suggested it be totally abandoned.
Many people around the world are shocked by what the media is reporting about New Orleans and the other areas in several states where the powerful hurricane Katrina caused major destruction and death. The sheer power of the storm leveled entire areas of the cities it hit directly with the full force of its winds. Deaths were in the hundreds, and the counting has only begun.
For awhile, it seemed New Orleans was spared the worst because Katrina was not at its full strength and didn’t hit the whole city directly. But some of the levees gave way, that held back flood waters from the nearby lake as well as the ocean and the Mississippi river, and some 80% of the city was seriously flooded.
There had been enough warning for many people to leave the city before the hurricane struck. But many people—perhaps several hundred thousands---could not leave, because they couldn’t afford fares or didn’t have cars, and no provisions were made for evacuating them. Hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities were not all evacuated, and there was no provision to evacuate people with physical disabilities and frail older people who lived in private homes.
By August 31 and September 1, the enormity of the catastrophe was becoming clearer. Hundreds and perhaps thousands had died in New Orleans by then. Those stranded in the city were without safe or adequate shelter, food and water. Toxic chemicals and human remains in the flood waters threatened outbreaks of serious diseases. Government response was slow, and planning had obviously been seriously inadequate. Anger, desperation, confusion and violence in New Orleans were reported and seen on television all over the world.
Many countries, and many organizations and individuals around the world offered assistance, and there are no doubt Star Trek organizations and Star Trek fans among them. The stories of individual courage, generosity and empathy are just beginning to be told. But a basic humanitarian impulse is not the only emotion likely to be evoked among Star Trek fans by this catastrophe.
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by William S. Kowinski
In the Star Trek universe, New Orleans is a vibrant city in the 24th century with strong ties to its past. Captain Benjamin Sisko, commander of Deep Space 9, grew up there, and for his first few weeks at Starfleet Academy, beamed back for dinner with his family there every night. Viewers saw him return there several times over the years to the Creole restaurant of his father, Joseph Sisko. The elder Sisko was a symbol not only of the continuity of family through the generations—from Joseph to Benjamin to Jake Sisko, Star Trek’s first three generation family—but his restaurant was a symbol of old values and culture that were still important, still necessary in the Star Trek future.
We are reminded of this not only by the recent death of Brock Peters, who played Joseph Sisko, but most of all by the incredible devastation in New Orleans during the last week of August 2005. At this moment, officials are trying to completely evacuate the city. They estimate it will be weeks or months before some of its residents can safely return (others have no homes left to return to), and years before the city can rebuild. Huge amounts of toxic industrial waste carried in the floodwaters may be very difficult and very expensive to eliminate. There is even some question whether the city will be habitable in the foreseeable future, and some have suggested it be totally abandoned.
Many people around the world are shocked by what the media is reporting about New Orleans and the other areas in several states where the powerful hurricane Katrina caused major destruction and death. The sheer power of the storm leveled entire areas of the cities it hit directly with the full force of its winds. Deaths were in the hundreds, and the counting has only begun.
For awhile, it seemed New Orleans was spared the worst because Katrina was not at its full strength and didn’t hit the whole city directly. But some of the levees gave way, that held back flood waters from the nearby lake as well as the ocean and the Mississippi river, and some 80% of the city was seriously flooded.
There had been enough warning for many people to leave the city before the hurricane struck. But many people—perhaps several hundred thousands---could not leave, because they couldn’t afford fares or didn’t have cars, and no provisions were made for evacuating them. Hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities were not all evacuated, and there was no provision to evacuate people with physical disabilities and frail older people who lived in private homes.
By August 31 and September 1, the enormity of the catastrophe was becoming clearer. Hundreds and perhaps thousands had died in New Orleans by then. Those stranded in the city were without safe or adequate shelter, food and water. Toxic chemicals and human remains in the flood waters threatened outbreaks of serious diseases. Government response was slow, and planning had obviously been seriously inadequate. Anger, desperation, confusion and violence in New Orleans were reported and seen on television all over the world.
Many countries, and many organizations and individuals around the world offered assistance, and there are no doubt Star Trek organizations and Star Trek fans among them. The stories of individual courage, generosity and empathy are just beginning to be told. But a basic humanitarian impulse is not the only emotion likely to be evoked among Star Trek fans by this catastrophe.
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In the Star Trek future, the Federation and Starfleet recognize the common good as a guiding principle. The common good has several aspects. That which we hold in common, including our interrelationships, are part of it. We are dependent on each other, and on our community and our planet. The diners in Sisko’s restaurant eat because someone caught the fish from waters that were protected from pollution and other kinds of damage, even far away. People acting cooperatively got the fish from where it was caught eventually to the restaurant. Other food on one diner’s plate may come from many different places, and involve hundreds of people. Each process requires using infrastructure that everyone shares, like roads and water pipes. Each of those people are dependent on others for what they need---for daycare when they’re at work, for health care.
The common good is everyone’s good eventually. But the common good goes beyond interrelationships that benefit each of us directly. The common good means the good of the community, the society, the human family, and all of life. This is part of the value of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Diversity means many talents and perspectives, many potentials and many skills, which makes us more capable and adaptable, and it makes life richer.
Diversity is a value of soul. In the Star Trek original series episode, "Is There in Truth No Beauty," Miranda’s parting words to Spock are: “The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity…” Spock completes the thought: “…and in the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.”
There is no contradiction between diversity and individuality: in fact, they are the same principle. The meaning of diversity is to honor and benefit from diverse individualities, and to do so by getting beyond superficial prejudices, because of color, physical abilities and appearance, class, gender, etc. to the soul within, and the unique contributions of each.
Similarly, there is no contradiction in principle between the common good and the individual. The American Experiment has always been about valuing both, and finding ways to deal with the areas in which they might conflict, for example, through laws and the Bill of Rights.
There is no contradiction between private enterprise and government. There is only what’s appropriate for particular aspects of the common good. This was recognized in recent history in the US, although it has perhaps been forgotten here since at least the 1980s.
(The role of money in the Star Trek future is a somewhat separate question, though not in ours. But private enterprise in some sense must exist in the Star Trek 24th century, because Sisko’s restaurant appears to be much like a privately owned and operated restaurant today.)
Because the Federation values the common good in the Star Trek future, we would not expect them to provide for the privileged few but ignore the many, or especially to ignore the disadvantaged few. We would not expect them to neglect the good of the city the people hold in common. And if they did, Captain Kirk or Captain Picard or Captain Sisko would call them on it.
There are several theories being debated now concerning why planning and prevention for the New Orleans catastrophe were so poor, and why relief efforts have been so slow and meager so far. They also bear upon the Star Trek future, and what that future represents in how humans bettered themselves.
The common good is everyone’s good eventually. But the common good goes beyond interrelationships that benefit each of us directly. The common good means the good of the community, the society, the human family, and all of life. This is part of the value of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Diversity means many talents and perspectives, many potentials and many skills, which makes us more capable and adaptable, and it makes life richer.
Diversity is a value of soul. In the Star Trek original series episode, "Is There in Truth No Beauty," Miranda’s parting words to Spock are: “The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity…” Spock completes the thought: “…and in the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.”
There is no contradiction between diversity and individuality: in fact, they are the same principle. The meaning of diversity is to honor and benefit from diverse individualities, and to do so by getting beyond superficial prejudices, because of color, physical abilities and appearance, class, gender, etc. to the soul within, and the unique contributions of each.
Similarly, there is no contradiction in principle between the common good and the individual. The American Experiment has always been about valuing both, and finding ways to deal with the areas in which they might conflict, for example, through laws and the Bill of Rights.
There is no contradiction between private enterprise and government. There is only what’s appropriate for particular aspects of the common good. This was recognized in recent history in the US, although it has perhaps been forgotten here since at least the 1980s.
(The role of money in the Star Trek future is a somewhat separate question, though not in ours. But private enterprise in some sense must exist in the Star Trek 24th century, because Sisko’s restaurant appears to be much like a privately owned and operated restaurant today.)
Because the Federation values the common good in the Star Trek future, we would not expect them to provide for the privileged few but ignore the many, or especially to ignore the disadvantaged few. We would not expect them to neglect the good of the city the people hold in common. And if they did, Captain Kirk or Captain Picard or Captain Sisko would call them on it.
There are several theories being debated now concerning why planning and prevention for the New Orleans catastrophe were so poor, and why relief efforts have been so slow and meager so far. They also bear upon the Star Trek future, and what that future represents in how humans bettered themselves.
There is one persistent and not very pretty theory as to why the poorer residents of New Orleans were left exposed to the catastrophic results of the hurricane, and why there was not more urgency in rescuing them. It is, the theory goes, because they are poor, and largely African-American.
In Star Trek lore, the choice of New Orleans as the home of Star Trek’s first African-American captain was probably not accidental. New Orleans is one of the greatest sources of African-American culture, and as the place where the great gumbo of jazz music was cooked up and sent to northern cities, it is a major source of American culture, as it has grown here and as it is known around the world.
The blues of New Orleans also were a major source for rock music, which itself has combined with other forms in other cultures. This connection was made more poignant when Fats Domino, one of the pioneers of rock and roll from New Orleans, was found among survivors in New Orleans several days after the hurricane.
The Mississippi River ends there, and the music of all the rivers that flow into it came to New Orleans, like Appalachian mountain music with some of its origins in the British isles. It is an ocean port, once held by the French, and a place where French Canadians from Nova Scotia came as exiles, and brought their music. Perhaps the most underrated musical influence is American Indian (the in-“jun” in Cajun) but it is clearly present in the blues as well as New Orleans jazz. And of course, the music of Africa that came with the slaves to this slave ship port.
As Michelle Erica Green points out in her column on Star Trek and New Orleans here, the ethnic mix of New Orleans includes English, Spanish and Caribbean Islanders, and there have been new immigrants in the area from various parts of Asia and the Middle East.
This was diversity that combined to make meaning and beauty for all the world. But it is also heir to a century of slavery and several centuries of racial prejudice. It wasn’t over when Louis Armstrong couldn’t play with white musicians. It wasn’t over when Nichelle Nichols, touring as a singer, was refused hotel lodgings.
All that is apparently gone in the 24th century. But even though it takes less obvious forms, it is not gone in the 21st.. Applied to the issue of New Orleans now, it is worth considering it as a component. The only way to combat unconscious racism is to raise the question, and make the possibility conscious.
In Star Trek lore, the choice of New Orleans as the home of Star Trek’s first African-American captain was probably not accidental. New Orleans is one of the greatest sources of African-American culture, and as the place where the great gumbo of jazz music was cooked up and sent to northern cities, it is a major source of American culture, as it has grown here and as it is known around the world.
The blues of New Orleans also were a major source for rock music, which itself has combined with other forms in other cultures. This connection was made more poignant when Fats Domino, one of the pioneers of rock and roll from New Orleans, was found among survivors in New Orleans several days after the hurricane.
The Mississippi River ends there, and the music of all the rivers that flow into it came to New Orleans, like Appalachian mountain music with some of its origins in the British isles. It is an ocean port, once held by the French, and a place where French Canadians from Nova Scotia came as exiles, and brought their music. Perhaps the most underrated musical influence is American Indian (the in-“jun” in Cajun) but it is clearly present in the blues as well as New Orleans jazz. And of course, the music of Africa that came with the slaves to this slave ship port.
As Michelle Erica Green points out in her column on Star Trek and New Orleans here, the ethnic mix of New Orleans includes English, Spanish and Caribbean Islanders, and there have been new immigrants in the area from various parts of Asia and the Middle East.
This was diversity that combined to make meaning and beauty for all the world. But it is also heir to a century of slavery and several centuries of racial prejudice. It wasn’t over when Louis Armstrong couldn’t play with white musicians. It wasn’t over when Nichelle Nichols, touring as a singer, was refused hotel lodgings.
All that is apparently gone in the 24th century. But even though it takes less obvious forms, it is not gone in the 21st.. Applied to the issue of New Orleans now, it is worth considering it as a component. The only way to combat unconscious racism is to raise the question, and make the possibility conscious.
There is another factor that seems to have contributed to the ongoing catastrophe, besides a weak sense of the public good and the role of governments in it, and perhaps a prejudice or blindness that leads to neglecting the poor and the sick and non-whites. Though it is different from them, it is related.
It is the failure to plan for the future. Star Trek fans are used to seeing Starfleet officers gather in the observation lounge or at Starfleet headquarters to describe an anticipated problem, suggest ways to solve it, debate those solutions and develop a plan. In fact, lots of science fiction films---even not very good ones---often show scientists and government leaders coming together to discuss a future threat and then devote whatever resources are necessary to combating it.
That doesn’t seem to happen often enough in our time. Scientists and engineers have known for years how vulnerable New Orleans is to hurricanes and floods. It’s been written about in the National Geographic and elsewhere. New Orleans lies below sea level; Sebastian Junger (author of “The Perfect Storm”) speaks of the sensation of looking up to see oil tankers on the river above.
The levees protecting the city were built to withstand a category 3 hurricane, when the stronger category 4s are less common but still expected, and the category 5 is always possible. The federal government under the current administration cut back funds to complete needed work on the levees. (This is one possible way the resources devoted to the war in Iraq also was a factor. Most controversial is that nearly half of Mississippi’s National Guard is in Iraq, as is more than a third of Louisiana’s, including the 3,000 member brigade with the kind of equipment most needed now in New Orleans.)
Moreover, other problems were known: for example, the city was protected by outlying wetlands, but as a result of development they have been shrinking and weakening. This exposes the city to more of a hurricane's power.
But what is most tragically apparent is lack of preparation. There apparently were no emergency plans or provisions in place for what scientists said was the most likely natural catastrophe in the US. There especially was no plan, and there were no resources provided, for evacuating New Orleans, other than telling people with the means to leave, when to leave.
Mr. Spock would find this illogical, and it’s likely that most Star Trek fans would agree. But even if a human propensity for denial, and the inefficiencies and illogic of bureaucracy are factored in, the reasons for this failure to plan for the future are still incomplete.
Planning for the future requires more than the know-how and devoting some attention to more than today. Planning for the future requires that you care about the future. It is an act of compassion, not only for people of the present and the present world, but for people in the future. That necessarily means all the people of the future.
This requires commitment to the common good, not only of now, but of the future. It requires commitment to diversity not only of the moment, but of posterity.
This basic principle does not require a leap in human evolution. It may have been the human species greatest advantage. Anticipating the future and planning for it is a chief rationale for human cultures. Even traditional cultures hand down their traditions because they fervently believe this is the way to live and approach the future.
It is, after all, one of the great traditional cultures of America that gave us a profound guide to thinking about the future, in the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee: “In every deliberation we must consider the impact on the seventh generation to come.”
Anticipating problems and preventing them almost always is less difficult and less costly than trying to rectify the damage. Yet anticipating future problems also means devoting resources in the present to something that may not happen, and therefore may not be necessary. In a present-centered culture, this is very difficult politically.
So in this sense, to go forward is to recover an aspect of cultures of the past. Even now, there may be a residual sense that our leaders and governments should take responsibility for at least preventing predictable near-future catastrophes, and certainly be prepared for emergencies that may never come. Reponse to the New Orleans catastrophe may tell us what this culture expects in its leaders and institutions, in taking responsibility for the common good, and acting responsibly for the future.
But even that is not quite enough. We need to anticipate and plan more positively, for the common good and the common future. This is an important role for Star Trek and Star Trek fans. The future depends on establishing cultures that not only consider the impact of present actions on the future, but actively believe in the future as a value and a priority.
This is a role for Star Trek viewers because they have seen this better future--that is, they have seen what it could be. They have participated in it through the imagination of those who created Star Trek and their own imaginations as viewers. This is also an important process in learning empathy, compassion and concern for the common good, as well as concern for the future. Drama makes the future real now.
If we can create a culture that cares about the future, perhaps our 24th century will also have a vibrant, diverse and connected New Orleans in it, where Starfleet officers can touch earth again, grasp the reality of the human family and the generations, while savoring some Creole cooking created before their eyes, but with an age-old recipe, and ageless care.
It is the failure to plan for the future. Star Trek fans are used to seeing Starfleet officers gather in the observation lounge or at Starfleet headquarters to describe an anticipated problem, suggest ways to solve it, debate those solutions and develop a plan. In fact, lots of science fiction films---even not very good ones---often show scientists and government leaders coming together to discuss a future threat and then devote whatever resources are necessary to combating it.
That doesn’t seem to happen often enough in our time. Scientists and engineers have known for years how vulnerable New Orleans is to hurricanes and floods. It’s been written about in the National Geographic and elsewhere. New Orleans lies below sea level; Sebastian Junger (author of “The Perfect Storm”) speaks of the sensation of looking up to see oil tankers on the river above.
The levees protecting the city were built to withstand a category 3 hurricane, when the stronger category 4s are less common but still expected, and the category 5 is always possible. The federal government under the current administration cut back funds to complete needed work on the levees. (This is one possible way the resources devoted to the war in Iraq also was a factor. Most controversial is that nearly half of Mississippi’s National Guard is in Iraq, as is more than a third of Louisiana’s, including the 3,000 member brigade with the kind of equipment most needed now in New Orleans.)
Moreover, other problems were known: for example, the city was protected by outlying wetlands, but as a result of development they have been shrinking and weakening. This exposes the city to more of a hurricane's power.
But what is most tragically apparent is lack of preparation. There apparently were no emergency plans or provisions in place for what scientists said was the most likely natural catastrophe in the US. There especially was no plan, and there were no resources provided, for evacuating New Orleans, other than telling people with the means to leave, when to leave.
Mr. Spock would find this illogical, and it’s likely that most Star Trek fans would agree. But even if a human propensity for denial, and the inefficiencies and illogic of bureaucracy are factored in, the reasons for this failure to plan for the future are still incomplete.
Planning for the future requires more than the know-how and devoting some attention to more than today. Planning for the future requires that you care about the future. It is an act of compassion, not only for people of the present and the present world, but for people in the future. That necessarily means all the people of the future.
This requires commitment to the common good, not only of now, but of the future. It requires commitment to diversity not only of the moment, but of posterity.
This basic principle does not require a leap in human evolution. It may have been the human species greatest advantage. Anticipating the future and planning for it is a chief rationale for human cultures. Even traditional cultures hand down their traditions because they fervently believe this is the way to live and approach the future.
It is, after all, one of the great traditional cultures of America that gave us a profound guide to thinking about the future, in the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee: “In every deliberation we must consider the impact on the seventh generation to come.”
Anticipating problems and preventing them almost always is less difficult and less costly than trying to rectify the damage. Yet anticipating future problems also means devoting resources in the present to something that may not happen, and therefore may not be necessary. In a present-centered culture, this is very difficult politically.
So in this sense, to go forward is to recover an aspect of cultures of the past. Even now, there may be a residual sense that our leaders and governments should take responsibility for at least preventing predictable near-future catastrophes, and certainly be prepared for emergencies that may never come. Reponse to the New Orleans catastrophe may tell us what this culture expects in its leaders and institutions, in taking responsibility for the common good, and acting responsibly for the future.
But even that is not quite enough. We need to anticipate and plan more positively, for the common good and the common future. This is an important role for Star Trek and Star Trek fans. The future depends on establishing cultures that not only consider the impact of present actions on the future, but actively believe in the future as a value and a priority.
This is a role for Star Trek viewers because they have seen this better future--that is, they have seen what it could be. They have participated in it through the imagination of those who created Star Trek and their own imaginations as viewers. This is also an important process in learning empathy, compassion and concern for the common good, as well as concern for the future. Drama makes the future real now.
If we can create a culture that cares about the future, perhaps our 24th century will also have a vibrant, diverse and connected New Orleans in it, where Starfleet officers can touch earth again, grasp the reality of the human family and the generations, while savoring some Creole cooking created before their eyes, but with an age-old recipe, and ageless care.
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