An article written by Chris Snellgrove for giantfreakinrobot.com and posted on 2/13/26 contends that “Starfleet Academy’s Avery Brooks Tribute Makes No Sense, Proves Writers Didn’t Watch DS9 At All”. You can read the full article in the link above.
In summation, the Sisko museum shown in the episode contains an “artifact”, the typewriter used by the writer Benny Russell in the DS9 episode Far Beyond the Stars, one of my personal favorites. To craft “the writer’s crowning achievement is a series of stories set on a space station named Deep Space Nine, but as a Black man, he is having trouble publishing these stories due to the rampant racism of the time period. His story is ultimately suppressed by the sci-fi magazine that he writes for because it features a Black man as its hero.”
Chris argues that “this particular tribute to the captain and Sisko actor Avery Brooks makes no sense whatsoever”. I will contend that his reasoning behind this conclusion is sound.
- Benny Russell and all the events that occurred in Far Beyond the Stars and subsequent related episodes were a vision created by the wormhole aliens known to the Bajorans as The Prophets.
- It is highly unlikely that Sisko reported his Benny Russell visions to Starfleet, as this would not look good on any sort of competency evaluation and would have likely brought his command into question.
- Even though Strange New Worlds retconned the canon to confirm that Benny Russell was a real writer, this then creates a whole new paradox in that there is no way there would have been any connection between Sisko and Russell.
- Lastly,Chris points out that the DS9 episode implies that Sisko only told his father, Joseph, about the visions.
For this rebuttal, I will disavow the quote by Jake Sisko, actor Cirroc Lofton, that the typewriter “technically…does not exist”. Additionally I will concede that Sisko did receive the Benny Russell visions from the Prophets and therefore the experience was not “real” so the typewriter could not be real as the occam’s razor argument.
That being said, “not real” is the first point I have contention with. It is established in the premier episode of DS9 Emissary that the wormhole aliens do not understand the concept of linear time. The idea that a leads to b leads to c does not make sense to them. Additionally they do not understand the emotional complexities of trauma, grief and love as evidenced by the fact that they believed “you exist here” the moment where Sisko found his wife Jennifer dead as a result of the battle of Wolf 359. His heart was stuck in that moment as often happens with loss. At the time of his encounter with the prophets it was likely the strongest part of him still stuck. So from their perspective since they could not understand linear time he did exist there.
These two established facts make it very unlikely that the Prophets would have been able to conjure up the very emotionally traumatic, racially charged visions of Benny Russell. It is more plausible that they instead looked through human history to find an event that contained the necessary lessons they wanted Sisko to learn in order to influence the outcome that they wanted from him. Enter the true life events of writer Benny Russell. This explanation legitimises the Strange New Worlds retconned canon and means that the typewriter existed at least at one point in time.
Now on to the repercussions, “admitting to having the equivalent of a mental breakdown while he was spearheading Starfleet’s war with the Dominion,” if Sisko had reported his visions to Starfleet. Starfleet is no stranger to mental abilities, such as, Betazoid telepathy, Vulcan mind melds. Objects that cause visions, the orbs of the prophets. Technology, the probe from Kataan (TNG The Inner Light), the neurosomatic technique (TNG Frame of Mind). Aliens that can alter reality or just have tremendous power, Q, Trelane (TOS The Squire of Gothos), Kevin Uxbridge (TNG The Survivors). If members of Starfleet did not report or omitted all the situations that could look like a mental breakdown, every captain from Archer to Michael Burnham would have had very short careers. In my opinion, Chris, this was a very weak argument and honestly makes me entertain the idea that you are the one who may not have watched any Star Trek at all.
Finally, the argument that Sisko only told his father about his visions, just because that was all that was implied in the episode, reduces the character of Benjamin Lafayettee Sisko to just the words on the page. It is a superficial argument that negates the real-life acting work of Avery Brooks to bring life to Sisko.
The quote from Sisko that Starfleet Academy used at the end of the episode defined the man “Divine laws are simpler than human ones, which is why it takes a lifetime to be able to understand them. Only love can understand them. Only love can interpret these words as they were meant to be interpreted.” Ben Sisko loved, he loved his father, his son, he loved Jennifer and Cassidy, he loved Dax both Jadzia and Ezri. He loved the people of Bajor. Remember that Sisko had no experience with the racism and bigotry that Benny Russell did but you can be sure that as a black man even in the 24th century, he knew what happened to his people. Experiencing that first hand through these visions truly affected him. His love would not allow him to hide that experience. But just like Jake held back publishing the book that he wrote about his father, which I suspect has a few pages about Benny Russell in it, the DS9 writers held back and let the audience decide how he would share that experience with all the people that he loved.
So to the writers of Starfleet Academy, keep up the good work. To the writers of DS9 thank you for the greatest Star Trek series. To Benjamin Lafayette Sisko, oh captain my captain thank you for showing us that we as a people will find our way to the stars and still be as black and as proud as ever and to Avery Brooks, I’ve seen you at a convention and although I have never spoken to you I want to say thank you. Those two words don’t seem to be enough to convey my feelings and yet they mean everything.
P.S.
Is it really Benny Russell’s typewriter in the museum? It could be I mean Tom Hanks collects vintage typewriters here in the 21st century. Who’s to say there isn’t a collector in the 24th century that found it? But probably not, it is more likely a replicated version of the typewriter. But does that negate its place in Ben Sisko’s museum? I don’t think so, museums aren’t just a place to go see old things, they are places to learn. Learning the significance of that typewriter and what it meant to Sisko is what gives it the place of honor it now has.
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