This year, the Pop Culture Hero Coalition, an anti-bullying non-profit founded by Chase Masterson (Leeta, DS9), has teamed up with Star Trek stars who ask that you start 2017 with a resolution to Be Kind to one another. You can join the fight and be a real life hero by pledging to be kind, and you can do it in style with a Be Kind tee shirt.
“Think before you type. Start 2017 with the resolution to #BeKind,” reads the description for one of the Pop Culture Hero Coalition’s holiday fundraiser tee shirts.
Star Trek, like other modern pop culture franchises, is at its core a message to understand one another, embrace diversity, and overall be excellent to each other. Chase Masterson, the coalition’s founder, saw this as an opportunity to create the first-ever organization that uses the universal appeal of comics, film & TV to create anti-bullying programs at pop culture events, and in schools and communities.
Their mission is simple:
To educate and support children, teens and adults to overcome bullying and social injustice, and to transform their struggles into strengths, using stories and characters from pop culture TV, film, and comics.
They do this by hosting events, organizing convention panels, and even developing lesson plans for schools. They’ve had huge successes helping kids affected by the San Bernardino mass shooting, those suffering from PTSD and bullying and inner city kids in places like Chicago. Currently, they are working to teach Trek’s ideal of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC) in schools.
“We love our onscreen heroes. Why not be heroes, too? So many people have told us, ‘I wish you had this when I was in school.’” says Masterson. “Roddenberry created a powerful key to social justice, and we are continuing that work in real life. We have the opportunity to teach IDIC to kids, before it’s too late… before there are any more suicides, or broken hearts, or battered psyches due to bullying — and we truly appreciate your support in this crucial work”
You can help support the cause by purchasing a Be Kind tee, sweatshirt, or tank. Proceeds from sales will go directly to help the Coalition’s mission. Learn more about the Coalition’s work on their official website.
In the first photo, I think I recognize everyone but the woman in front of Chase. Who is she?
Thanks, Cranston. I’ve updated the photo with a caption. She is Hana Hatae aka Molly O’Brien from TNG and DS9… all grown up!
Wow – I never would have guessed. Thanks, Kayla!
Grow a spine and stand up to a bully.
Enough of this wimpy crap.
In high school some one liked to give me a hard way to go until I turned around and slugged him. Proven solved.
Do like Scotty when the Klingons called the Enterprise a garbage scow.
“Problem solved.”
Uhh, do you remember what happenned when Scotty did that. He gave the Klingons exactly the reaponse they were looking for, started an unnecessary bar fight, and got sent to his room.
Don’t hit people.
Yer a real tough guy, obviously.
I agree Moe
Wow I did not recognize Jeffrey Combs. One of my absolute FAVORITE Trek actors. Anyone remember those cheesy old Re-animator horror movies? I think that was the first thing I saw him in.
Awwww, don’t they look great?! What a lovely cause, too, and a much-needed message for 2017.
What a complete waste of time. Be Kind? As if that’s actually going to convince a mean person to change. Only somebody who’s never been bullied would be naive enough to think this would actually work.
That is correct. There are times when you must stand up for yourself.
…going to have to agree with both of you here. I was bullied all up and down the block and back in the 70’s, and only through those experiences and learning to stand up for myself (and using Capt. Kirk as a role model) did I finally grow up with a backbone. “We learn by doing.”
I was a teen in the 70s myself. Going to a public high school in a major city will make you or break you.
Social justice? Code for only liberal view points allowed. I don’t think Star Trek was that at all.
Glad this is an independent effort. One of the highest profile previous anti-bullying campaigns was run by hypocrite fraud and internet bully Dan Savage.
William Shatner should not be holding up that T shirt. LOL