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After over 20 years on board the USS Starship Enterprise, Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge has finally spoken out about the atmosphere of bullying and intimidation that he has had to endure throughout his time there – because of the incredibly outdated racism of highly decorated captain Jean Luc Picard.




"He used to make me feel humiliated whenever he could", the afro-American engineer complained. "Like one time he announced over the tannoy that under no circumstances was I to carry my spear on the bridge. I’m from Vermont for God’s sake, not Kenya! Another time, I got into a minor argument with Commander Riker over some trifling matter, and Picard warned me not to put a voodoo curse on him, or try and cook him in a pot! It always went way beyond a joke with him".

Picard’s racism occasionally jeopardised the entire crew. "One time we were having a problem with warp 9", La Forge explained. "It was vital that Captain Picard authorise an override of the ship’s mainframe or we were going to implode, killing everyone on board! With just moments to go, I desperately explained the situation to him, but he just looked straight at me and said he couldn’t understand jive! I had to get Data to translate, even though I was already speaking in English! A couple of seconds longer and I wouldn’t be here now".

The bald, racist intergalactic captain would go to great lengths to blame almost any occurrence on La Forge, Riker also remembers. "One day a Falugon from the planet Quark sneaked on to the bridge, and, as they do, tried to melt our minds. Luckily, I vaporised him, leaving a nasty green slime stain. Everyone knew that that was where the stain came from, but Picard insisted it was LaForge, drinking his goddamn Lilt on the bridge again".



And it was not only LaForge who had to listen to abusive comments. "He said that the jury was out on Worf. He accused him of looking like a black Klingon, and said he’d better not hear any 50 Cent coming from his quarters. Worf was really hurt", La Forge remembers.

"He called me weird beard once, too", Riker added.