Having just come back from seeing it, Uhura is probably the third biggest part on the hero side after Kirk and Spock. She is no chopped liver!

But I just want to address the original Uhura, Nichelle Nichols. Yes, she was comms officer (not a recpetionist). But she was one of the first and few black female women on television. Nichelle Nichols’s Uhura (which comes from the word Freedom in Swahili) had a profound effect on many, many black women…my mother being one of them. But not only my mother. She was important enough to Whoopi Goldberg that Whoopi made it a point to get cast in the Next Generation in honor of her. Zoe Saldana was contemplating passing on the role when her own mother insisted she take it.

Is Uhura Tasha Yar? No, she isn’t. But not all women have to be Tasha Yar, right?

Some wiki quotes:
“Nichelle Nichols planned to leave Star Trek in 1967 after its first season, but Martin Luther King, Jr. persuaded her to stay, stating that she was a role model for the black community. Whoopi Goldberg, who later played Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation, identified the Uhura character as a role model for her, recalling that she told her family, “I just saw a black woman on television; and she ain’t no maid!” NASA later employed Nichols in a campaign to encourage African Americans to join the service, and Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to fly aboard the Space Shuttle, cited Star Trek as an influence in her decision to join.”

For those who are invested in Uhura, her role is expanded in the new film, and I can’t wait to see what more J.J. Abrahms will create for the character.

Lastly, when I met Nichelle Nichols at a Star Trek convention…it was one of the highlights of my convention going experiences. I met Leonard Nimoy, I met William Shatner…but it was Nichelle Nichols and her Uhura that was meaningful for me–when, then meeting George Takei later. Speaking of George Takei, even though he also didn’t have a lot to do in the original series, I know how important he was to many of my Asian-American friends that he was visible and played by an actual Asian-American person.

Uhura was not the damsel in distress. She was a professional star fleet officer. She attained the rank of Commander and lectured at Starfleet.

The state of women in the industry is deplorable, but there is no need to diminish a character, one of the few African-American women in all of science fiction in order to make your point.