No Equal-Opportunity Time Travel: Difference between revisions
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Modern Western society is ostensibly an equal opportunity environment; most fiction writers suggest that the sci-fi future will be even more so. But if time travel ever becomes an institution in the future, some parts of the past may not be safe for all people to travel to.
Imagine being a black man and traveling to a place and time when all blacks were assumed to be slaves and had to carry papers to prove otherwise, or where they were likely to be lynched for speaking up. Similar issues exist for other races
How realistic (at least, to the extent that [[Captain Obvious|a story about time travel can be rooted in realism]]) this trope is varies. There is no use pretending that racism did not exist, but the levels and expressions thereof have varied wildly throughout history - it is not cleanly divided the dangerous Past and the accepting Present.
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* [[Octavia Butler]] covers the perils of time traveling while black in the 1979 novel ''Kindred'' - the black protagonist goes to 19th-century Maryland to meet her ancestors, one of whom is a white slave owner. Drama ensues.
* In ''[[To Say Nothing of the Dog]]'' by Connie Willis, the time-travel research division at Oxford contains a black student and a South Indian professor, who can't do much actual time-traveling (all of the work at Oxford seems to do with England, for some reason) for safety reasons. It works to their advantage, as the plot of the book involves everyone else in the department being forced to do far too much time travel for their own health.
* In an ''[[Animorphs]]'' story involving time travel, the group runs into this
{{quote|'''Cassie''': "You don't like black people, Mr. Davis? No problem. I can turn white. Watch me."}}
** Random trivia: Though they have white fur, polar bears in fact [[Dark-Skinned Blond|have black skin]].
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* In one episode of ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'', a few alternate-universe versions of the X-Men travel back to the 50's to save the younger Professor Xavier from a time-traveling assassin. They all talk at a cafe, and the owner gets pissy about the fact that [[Storm]] and [[Wolverine]] (an African and a Caucasian, respectively) are a couple. Naturally, this makes Wolverine completely flip out.
** What, didn't he notice that Wolverine radiates "Don't fuck with me" vibes?
** Not surprising given that the X-Men are [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|one big metaphor for racism and prejudice]]. Though Storm is more amused than
** Amusingly also something of an inversion, as this also gets them mistaken for beatniks, resulting in a patron with beatnik sympathies siding with them in the ensuing brawl
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Road To Germany". Mort, who is Jewish, accidentally activates Stewie's time machine and is set to Poland on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Stewie and Brian go back in time to rescue him. At one point they need to pass as Nazis themselves, and having Mort the walking stereotype in tow proves problematic. At one point, they tried to pass Mort off as a Catholic priest. [[Hilarity Ensues|And then he's asked to give someone their Last Rites.]]
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