My journey through the ocean that is the “Star Trek” franchise has been circuitous and slapdash, with my current fixation being “Deep Space Nine” (1993-1999), the scrappy underdog of the “Trek” lineup.
While James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard were content to moralize at other species about humanity’s virtues, Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) of Starbase Deep Space Nine is dedicated to the nitty-gritty work of building a community.
That means managing resources, solving internal conflicts, and keeping the peace between factions jockeying for power. Sisko faces many crises during his tenure in Bajoran space, but one particular storyline stoked my interest in light of our current political climate—and gave me hope.
The two-parter “Past Tense,” which aired in 1995, sees Sisko, Bashir (Alexander Siddig), and Dax (Terry Farrell) blindsided by a transporter accident that sends them back centuries to the right place at the wrong time: San Francisco in 2024, one of the darkest times in Earth’s history.
In this speculative future/past, homelessness in America has ballooned to epidemic proportions. The government’s solution is Sanctuary Districts, ghettos where the unhoused in major cities are rounded up and imprisoned.
Although they ostensibly exist to provide food, medicine, and job placements, the Sanctuaries are overcrowded and underfunded, leaving their inmates trapped and waiting for lifesaving help that could take years to arrive (if at all).
It’s a dire situation, but as Sisko, an Earth history buff, points out, change is on the horizon: Our heroes arrive on the eve of the Bell Riots, a civil uprising that becomes a fundamental building block of the utopian future Gene Roddenberry dreamed up in 1964.
However, when the leader and ultimate martyr of the riots, Gabriel Bell, is killed, Sisko himself steps in to fill Bell’s role and make sure history happens on schedule. If he succeeds, he will return to a future he helped build; if he fails, that future will cease to exist.
The era in which “Past Tense” is set is, naturally, what drew me to the episode: 2024 is now a recent, sobering memory, and 2025 ain’t looking much better. As we speak, the second Trump administration has dropped all pretense of democracy and is gleefully dismantling the federal government.
Longtime employees are being replaced by sycophants; life-saving programs are being cut; and the right-wing war on diversity, equity, and inclusion has resulted in the rollback of civil rights protections dating back to Roddenberry’s heyday.
It’s all blatantly illegal, but with numerous federal judges and most of the Supreme Court on Trump’s side, many feel powerless—while others wonder if we’re heading for an upheaval on the level of the Bell Riots. When someone acts like a king, don’t be shocked if people bring out a guillotine.
These are scary times, to be sure, not helped by an opposition party that struggles to meet each challenge head-on. Sadly, the prediction of American society featured in “Past Tense” isn’t as far-fetched as one might have expected 30 years ago.
So why did “Past Tense” give me hope? Because for Sisko and the rest, 2024 isn’t the future. It’s their history, a stepping stone to a future of scientific discovery and brotherhood among the stars. Just as Earth made it through the horrors that led to the Bell Riots, we can make it through Trumpism again.
Make no mistake, the Trump era will face a spectacular flameout. Fascism is incapable of sustaining itself long-term—and with each passing day, the administration’s greed, cruelty, and incompetence become all the more undeniable.
Our job as citizens is to minimize the damage Trumpism has caused and be there for each other. In other words, we must exemplify the compassion and perseverance that defines the humanism of “Star Trek.”
It’s fitting that Sisko, a man from the future the Bell Riots built, is the one to bring them to fruition. He’s a citizen of Roddenberry’s fictional utopia, bringing his strength and morality to our dreary present day.
A future built on equity and empathy is possible, but it must be fought for. In the absence of any real Benjamin Sisko or Gabriel Bell, it’s on us to step up, speak out, and believe that things will get better.
