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I am well aware of this. However, he was only questioning the issue of racism in the Empire.

It's true, LACK of racial diversity doesn't necessarily equal racism.

Is Japan racist because most of its jobs and positions in government are filled by non-blacks, non-whites, etc (in fact, anybody but japanese 'oriental' ethnicity?)

Perhaps non-Whites among humans are even MORE rare in Star Wars than they are on earth. Now coming from Europe or North America, whites are a fairly large group, but in the rest of the world they are far outnumbered.

Realistically, the casting of mostly whites probably has more to do with the ethnic/racial makeup of the countries that produced the movies and the thoughts about race at the time they were made. But... I think the implication is that the Empire doesn't bother.. because they want everybody to be the same, and so they can exclude minorities on principle. People like Grand Admiral Thrawn and Admiral Daala were considered unusual, and that's only in the EU. Even in those cases they were given remote outposts and secret bases to defend, hidding them away from the rest of the galaxy.

consequences wrote:we see one black guy in the rebellion, and this makes them paragons of racial equality? Especially when we have only seen four black people ever in the SW Galaxy?

Ya know what? I'm still not done with this. Four blacks only? WHAT?! Mace Windu, Lando Calrissian, the black Republic officer Achk Med-Beq a.k.a. Lieutenant Faytonni, Captain Typho, the black Rebel pilot, the black Rebel commando, the black Bespin security guard, the black Bespin citizen fleeing with an ice-cream maker, Captain Panaka, Adi Gallia, Stass Allie, the black...do I have to continue??? So that's a minimum of eleven blacks in the movies. I'm sure there's plenty more I've missed or can't think of right now.

Kurgan wrote:

I am well aware of this. However, he was only questioning the issue of racism in the Empire.

It's true, LACK of racial diversity doesn't necessarily equal racism.

Is Japan racist because most of its jobs and positions in government are filled by non-blacks, non-whites, etc (in fact, anybody but japanese 'oriental' ethnicity?)

Perhaps non-Whites among humans are even MORE rare in Star Wars than they are on earth. Now coming from Europe or North America, whites are a fairly large group, but in the rest of the world they are far outnumbered.

Realistically, the casting of mostly whites probably has more to do with the ethnic/racial makeup of the countries that produced the movies and the thoughts about race at the time they were made. But... I think the implication is that the Empire doesn't bother.. because they want everybody to be the same, and so they can exclude minorities on principle. People like Grand Admiral Thrawn and Admiral Daala were considered unusual, and that's only in the EU. Even in those cases they were given remote outposts and secret bases to defend, hidding them away from the rest of the galaxy.

The fact that everything the Empire took over used to be the Old Republic's, which had much diversity. This means that the Empire got rid of everyone except white human males. That HAS GOT to be racism.

Sorry, the only four I can remember clearly seeing are Mace Windu, Captain Panaka, the one from AOTC that I can't remember the name of, and Lando Calrissian, I didn't exactly frame-by-frame all five movies looking.

Me either. I just remember seeing them. Plus, I took a look at the list of Star Wars characters seen in the movies at starwars.com. You really should have done the same as I did before making that claim.

Not to mention the lack of near-humans in the Imperial military proper.

Most near-human species could perform to standards.

Exactly. That is why I said he

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=10505

wouldn't be in the Imperial military. Because he has pointy ears. Oh well. Better for the Rebel Alliance that the Empire ignores competent soldiers because of trivial matters such as race, gender, or species.

The fact that everything the Empire took over used to be the Old Republic's, which had much diversity. This means that the Empire got rid of everyone except white human males. That HAS GOT to be racism.

That's a good point about near-humans. I mean, for standardization purposes, it makes sense to only take certain humanoids, but a lot of them are so close it shouldn't matter one bit.

You could always assume that just few aliens or non-whites and women signed up (as it might happen in real life) but the fact of diversity in the Old Republic hurts that theory.

Non-whites in Star Wars canon films (characters, not actors) I remember:

Lando Calrissian
At least one Alliance pilot in ROTJ
At least one Naboo pilot in TPM
Captain Panaka
Captain Typho
Street crossers on Tatooine (at least in ANH) and probably in some of the other crowd scenes in various movies, like the bar on Coruscant in AOTC or Cloud City in ESB
Mace Windu
Adi Gallia (? haven't had a good look at her, might be a darker skinned near-human alien)

I'd have to go frame-by frame through them to spot any others...

Adi Gallia is black. Here:

http://www.starwars.com/databank/charac ... index.html

In the process of finding blacks in the list, I also came across someone that looks a lot like Adi as well, even with the same type of clothes and head dress:

http://www.starwars.com/databank/charac ... index.html

I thought it was pretty interesting that they wear similar clothes. The site says they come from the same cultural roots, explaining their similar attire, but does not give a home world. There's also Queen Jamillia that has Indian features, I believe:

http://www.starwars.com/databank/charac ... index.html

An Asian Jedi:

http://www.starwars.com/databank/charac ... ld/eu.html

And an assload of non-human Jedi. There is much diversity in the Old Republic. There is no other logical reason why it all just disappeared after the Empire was born. Notice how all of Palpatine's aides and such disappeared and were replaced by those weird old white guys in RotJ:

http://www.starwars.com/community/capti ... tion14.jpg

LOL

That "asian" Jedi is described as having a "silvery complexion" and "silver" slanted eyes, sounds like some kind of near-human alien to me!

Come to think of it, the term "asian" really wouldn't fit very well, if there's no place called "asia" in the Star Wars universe!

Anyhow, that's an EU character... okay, I'll stop my nit picking now!

Doh! And some of Lando's men on Bespin! Can't believe I forgot those guys....

Hmm you're right. I thought that was a movie pic. Anyways, the theory I have is that Star Wars characters were somehow taken from Earth, so his ancient origin (if he were a real human) would have most likely been in Asia.

Lol!

As an EU character, I wouldn't expect a "movie pic" of him to exist, but I could be wrong.

And if current theories are correct, all humans came from Asia or Africa in the first place anyway!


PS: See Wong's fanfic "Conquest" on this site. ; )