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Leonard Nimoy's Advice To A Biracial Girl In 1968

It wasn't supposed to be "Leonard Nimoy + Biracial Kids Day" here at Code Switch, but the news takes you where it takes you.

BuzzFeed's Leonora Epstein uncovered this blog post from the blog My Star Trek Scrapbook, which features a letter from a 1968 issue of the defunct teen magazine FaVE! In a letter addressed to Mr. Spock, a young biracial girl laments that she doesn't fit in with either her black or her white peers.

"I know that you are half Vulcan and half human and you have suffered because of this," the girl named F.C. wrote. "My mother is Negro and my father is white and I am told this makes me a half-breed. ... I guess I'll never have any friends."

Nimoy was so moved by the letter that he responded at length in the next issue. "[Spock] said to himself: 'Not everyone will like me,' " Nimoy wrote. "But there will be those who will accept me just for who I am."

Read the whole exchange below:

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Nimoy wrote to the young girl that Spock "decided he would live up to his own personal value and uniqueness."
/ FaVE! Magazine, via My Star Trek Scrapbook
/
FaVE! Magazine, via My Star Trek Scrapbook
Nimoy wrote to the young girl that Spock "decided he would live up to his own personal value and uniqueness."

Gene Demby is the co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team.