White supremacy is what it is - the umbrella ideology -- but it has a plethora of supporting mechanisms aimed at control and domination of those they oppress. One of those mechanisms is the media in general and television, in particular. Like money, television is a tool that can project images that serve as the ultimate confounding of things: these images can make the small appear large, the weak appear strong, the ugly appear beautiful, the impotent appear virile, the cowardly appear courageous and so on. "The Invaders," in my view, was one such mechanism - a powerful and well-done television show. Time was taken with the set and location selections, the wardrobe and the way that each room was set up. By today's standards the technology was someone antiquated, but nevertheless I was captivated by the overall theme of the show: one man has to convince the world of something that they are not ready to accept. At the time of its airing I was only 13 years old, but I was labeled a "gifted and talented" student and so I observed, talked and wrote about things that bored the shit out of my friends and associates. But there is no doubt that I was at home in the evening when "The Invaders" came on, because I wanted to see what would happen when this white man was treated like a pariah, much the same way that black people have been over the years. I arrived in the California Bay Area at the height of the Black Power movement in 1966, one year after the Watts Riot woke up black people all over the country. As the nation burned and I was still in intermediate school (some people call it "middle school"), this show was able to stay on the air for two years without showing hardly any black people. With the exception of one episode during Season 2 (titled, "The Vise"), it was white aliens versus white earthlings and the only way you could tell the difference was that the aliens had a malformed "pinkie" finger (as they call it) that remained extended; they couldn't bleed and had no heartbeat or pulse. Although it was claimed that these aliens wanted to either destroy or enslave the inhabitants of Earth, these aliens got the benefit of the doubt. For instance, these aliens continued to be referred to as "people" and on-going statements that, "they look just like us." As I stated earlier, it wasn't until season 2, episode 22 that they decided to feature some Black people in starring roles - which is why I devote an entire section to that particular episode under the sub-heading, "Fade to Black." As a narration from the episode called, "The Peacemaker" stated, "For two years, David Vincent has been waging war on two fronts. One against the aliens, the second an attempt to enlist allies in high places - while there is still time." And even as the last episode ended, David was still fighting, and the group that he was able to form over the years - the "believers" - were right there with him, getting more and more attention from the powers that be, convincing them that these aliens were already here and were not bullshitting around. For these reasons I rate "The Invaders" far above the televised versions of either "Star Trek" or "Battlestar Galactica." I admired Vincent's tenacity, courage, perseverance and eloquence. He believed in something and acted on what he believed in. There are a lot of people today who don't believe in anything. From what I was able to observe he paid for his own gas, plane tickets and registration fees to various "conferences" that the aliens were sponsoring in their quest to bamboozle witless earthlings. And of course, he had the advantage of "white privilege" which time and time again enabled him to get into military bases, hotels, government offices and the like, sans credentials, simply because of his whiteness.
About the Author: Matthew C. Stelly is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on a degree in Urban Education and Community Policy. He holds three Master's degrees: Urban Studies (1982), Urban Education (1983) and Political Science (2000). He is working toward his doctorate in Community Policy/Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the former editor of the Milwaukee Courier newspaper, former director of the Great Plains Black Museum and the Plano (TX) African American Museum, and lead archivist for The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) in Dallas, Texas. Stelly has more than 2,500 articles in print and has won two national essay competitions. He is the founding director of the largest African-American neighborhood group in Nebraska, the Triple One Neighborhood Association and Parents Union. He is publisher and editor of the Triple One News, a two-time nationally recognized newsletter. He is the father of five children - Mandla, Malik, Clariece, Charisse and Shannon -- and remains actively involved in community organizing and neighborhood development in several cities, including Milwaukee and Omaha.