Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians all say they favor equal rights. And so did Heinlein, who believed in equality under the law, but possessed a libertarian distrust of affirmative action, set asides and quotas that perpetuate economic inequities and fosters continued animosity between the races.
Check out “Over the Rainbow” (1980) in Expanded Universe. Its hero is a black woman vice president who becomes president upon the death of the president (a character reportedly based on Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in the original Star Trek ). She was placed on the ticket simply to garner votes and no one in her predecessor’s cabinet has the slightest bit of respect for her skills and talents. She only becomes the best president the United States ever has, solving the problems of pollution and drugs in the military. She also gets mankind into space permanently. She unites the country by refusing to pander to special interest groups, including a group of black “leaders.” Heinlein did not suffer the delusion that all people are equal in fact, just equal under the law. Obviously, they are not; some people are smarter or stronger than others. Heinlein never believed such superiority or inferiority was based on the color of one’s skin. How un-fascist of him.
Heinlein believed race-based politics (as well as ethnicity-based, religion based, class-based, etc.) was divisive.
“What are the marks of a sick culture? It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the county and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn’t the whole population,” said Boss in Friday.
Heinlein was often coy with his readers when it comes to the race of his characters. Juan Rico in Starship Troopers is Filipino, but you have to read the book carefully to notice it. This gives lie to those who call Starship a fascist diatribe.
Dr. Richard Colin Campbell Ames in The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, is black, but this is revealed near the end of the book. Ironically, the cover of my paperback shows him as white.
Eunice, the main female character in I Will Fear No Evil, is also black, although this is revealed through had to notice clues.
“Stealth diversity” was common in Heinlein’s works. It was his way to get subversive material past editors and critics who might object.
In all honesty, some of his earliest fiction contained stereotypical characterizations and politically incorrect language (he refered to Kansas City’s “darktown society” in Requiem). But remember, his very early work was written when he was a liberal, before he became a “rock-ribbed far-right conservative” and “fascist.”
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