I was talking with my son about racism the other day.

I talked to him about how racism isn't just big things, it's little things, what can seem like the tiniest things, every single day.

We talked about how books, tv shows, games and films mainly have white people in them.

I talked about what this was like for me, growing up as Chinese in the UK. As a child, I didn't even realize at the time that I didn't see any people like me.

I didn't realize this was why I was always the kid who got "kung fu" when it came up in the playground.

I talked to him, his face part in shock and complete disbelief, when I said that until about 50 years ago, his mum and dad would not have been allowed to be married.

"That doesn't make sense," he said.

We got back to talking about how the tiny thing of not seeing yourself is so important.

How it means you might never dream about something, or how you think something might be impossible to you, just because you never see anyone else do it.

So I did my thing and told him one of the reasons why Star Trek is important to me.

We'd talked about how it was illegal for people who aren't white to marry white people. About how people who weren't white didn't see themselves in books, tv, films and games. Even now.

I told him, Star Trek is important to me because it was one of the first TV shows that wasn't all white people.

I told him that it was one of the first shows to have a black woman playing someone important.

"Captain Kirk had someone on the bridge of the Enterprise called Captain Uhura. She was a black woman played by Nichelle Nichols. And she was SO. SMART.

"When they needed someone to break a code, it was Uhura who did it. She knew EVERYTHING about languages. When Captain Kirk needed to talk to aliens they'd never met before, it was Uhura who figured it out. She was an important part of the team."

"THAT'S SO COOL!"

"... and do you know who the pilot of the Enterprise was? He's someone called Hikaru Sulu. He's a scientist and a pilot. He was one of the first Japanese Americans to be on a show like Star Trek.

"Imagine being black or Japanese and seeing someone like you on a space ship for the first time."

"That's stupid."

"It *is* stupid. And some people still think that way. That's why people are protesting. Because some people -- a lot of people -- are still racist."

I explained that there are lots of wrong and silly things about Star Trek, too. That it has not been good at how it treats women.

But for this, for bringing Uhura to us: thank you.

#StarTrekUnited

If you're wanting something to help talk to your children about racism, one book I recommend is A Kids Book About Racism, by @Jelanimemory, also a co-founder of A Kids About.

https://akidsbookabout.com/collections/kids-books/products/a-kids-book-about-racism

Racism is something we learn.

Please talk to your kids.