My History with early Black TV Characters

Wow! I've made it past the Ninety articles mark!!! You know Power Rangers first aired on TV in 1993. This is my Ninety-third article!!! What an epic event! You know the Nineties really was a great time to watch TV as a kid. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers joined the line-up in 1993 and was a Game Changer in many ways. Sure it was a big TV hit but it also made a big impression on society. Now I would also like to give special credit to my good friend from Elementary School Timothy Hall. We didn't start off on the best of terms but we became friends very quickly. Okay I imagine some people are a little confused, right now so I'm just gonna start digging into this. I was really young, I was struggling with a tricky mental condition (Aspergers) I know neither of those is a real excuse, they're just the only ones I got. So here's my confession I didn't understand Black people as a kid! I'm over this now and try to be a friend to everyone and judge them by their actions and their character and not by little misconceptions. So anyways I teased Timothy a little, I am in no way proud of that! We eventually talked things out and became really good friends. Meanwhile on Television the First Black character I remember is Tim from the Magic School Bus.

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I liked Tim, he was nice, and he seemed to have a lot of moxy in him. However in nearly every episode of this series the kids are always in school. Sure they have their trips but that still counts as a school function. I felt like I couldn't connect that much to him. Then I got to see Captain Planet and to this day Kwame is still a big favorite Black TV character of mine. However that's not to say his color is what makes him special, he was a daring leader and a bold fighter. Kwame cares for the Earth a lot and this left a big impact on me, and I care about our home strongly too. However as team leader Kwame had a serious personality and was usually very focused and determined while on screen. Not to say these are bad qualities but he just ultimately came out kind of uptight sometimes. Then I finally got to see Power Rangers. Enter Zack Taylor! Zack is played by Walter Jones. Now Zack I could really relate to. He was energetic, he was silly, He was humorous, He had a crush on a girl who ignored him a lot, he was a dancer, and he too cares for our home. So I thought here's a guy I have a lot in common with. Of course Power Rangers didn't do this just for me, there were very few black characters in live action at the time and now there's a whole lot of them. First live action Black Superhero, first Black Teenage hero, first weekly show to feature a character like this. If you ask me what was the biggest change to our Television airwaves caused by Power Rangers? The answer is clearly Zack Taylor. I met Walter Jones at Power Morphicon last year, he's a really nice guy. I didn't tell him this story because I didn't want to make a scene at the convention. So anyways everyone makes mistakes when they're growing up. I really want to thank these cool characters, and my friend Timothy for helping me realize that we can all get along and live together on this world and that friendship is truly a wonderful thing. Racism is still very real and will probably always be out there and I am super thankful I never went to far down that path, even if I did start down it. Black Lives Matter! All Life Matters. I'm going to talk more about Zack next time. Zack is a huge favorite of mine, I only saved him this long because I really wanted to think this out a lot. If you meet someone and you don't understand something about them, I highly recommend talking to them about it first, you never know, they might just become your best friend. Sorry this came out so long, thanks for reading if you made it all the way through. Heroes really do come in every color and so do friends!