Who knew?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the icon of the American civil rights movement, hero to millions around the world, and ...a Trekkie?

Yup.  It's true.

Dr. King was a Trekkie. How cool is that?

See the cool article in the Christian Science Monitor that talks about Dr. King proclaiming himself as a Trekkie, as well as Lt. Uhura's "greatest fan."

King to the actress who played her in the original Star Trek: "For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen.... [D]o you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch."
Sheer awesomeness.

Star Trek (both the original and the Next Generation) imagined a world in which people of different races could come together in a shared quest, and even occasionally share love--even risque kisses. That was a radically revoltuionary idea in the 1960's, and for some, it remains so today.

Google recently honored Star Trek with its Doodle of the day.