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One of my favorite science fiction sub-genres is alternate history, imagined realities where a pivotal moment in time is altered and then history as we know it is irrevocably changed.

Some authors, like alternate history “master” Harry Turtledove, blend hard science fiction into the mix: His “World War” series posits an alien invasion during World War II which helps unite humanity when it’s in the midst of tearing itself apart.

One of Turtledove’s most popular novels, Guns of the South, features near-future white South Africans traveling back in time to help the Confederate States of America win the US Civil War. All they do is supply the grays with AK-47s.

John Birmingham’s superb “Axis of Time” series has a terrorist-fighting US Navy battle group whisked back in time during the middle of World War II, and then the race is on by both Allies and Axis as to who will make the most of the advanced technology (and win the war).

Others, like Philip Roth merely alter key historical moments. In his The Plot Against America, the world of the late 1930s-early 1940s is changed when Germany-sympathizing Charles Lindbergh becomes the 1940 GOP presidential nominee … and defeats Franklin D. Roosevelt. The US stays out of World War II and the Lindbergh administration begins a “resettlement” program for American Jewish families.

Similar to Turtledove’s Guns of the South, HBO is coming out with an alternate Civil War series titled Confederate by Game of Thrones creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff. The premise: The South won the Civil War and slavery continues to exist there to this day.

Uh oh.

The Daily Beast referred to the series — which hasn’t even begun filming! — as “white nonsense.” The NY Times’ Roxane Gay wrote “I Don’t Want to Watch Slavery Fan Fiction.” And, according to NPR, “social media posts by the hundreds snarked at a pair of white, male producers […] tackling such an incendiary topic.”

But leave it to an English/journalism adjunct to take the social justice warrior (SJW) absurdity to the next level.

Morehouse College’s David Dennis Jr. believes that Confederate is “another example of how deeply white identity is tied to black suffering”:

The show has rightfully come under fire for continuing a tradition of white people only being able to find stories about black people if they’re framed by the institution of slavery, oppression and trauma.

The idea for Confederate illustrates an issue white people have always had when constructing narratives about us. They simply can’t imagine us without shackles.

Weiss and Benioff have been able to bring to life a land of dragons, time travelers, zombies and fire gods, but they are incapable of imagining a world without racial class divisions and enslaved people of color. That sort of existence is outside of the realm of their creativity. …

Weiss and Benioff have put together HBO’s biggest show ever and had a green light to develop any show they wanted. And it’s clear they wanted to do a show involving more people of color. And, like Martin, given free reign to birth any universe they wanted, the best idea they could come up with for black people is to keep them enslaved. Imagine that.

And imagine the amount of clueless white privilege it takes to think it takes creating an alternate universe to address modern day slavery in America. It’s also telling tha [sic] idea about Africans enslaving Europeans didn’t come about or even black people getting reparations after slavery. Instead, we get a Jeff Sessions fever dream of continued slavery.

There it is — that inevitable tie-in to the Trump administration. Of course.

But the African-American executive producers of Confederate, Nichelle Tramble Spellman and husband Malcolm Spellman, have something to say about Dennis and his ilk.

“If you render us a footnote,” Malcolm says, “the assumption is that we’re just a prop or a shield…Our own people marginalized us like that.

“The project is not antebellum imagery, it’s not whips, it’s not plantations, it’s not a celebration or pornography for slavery. And, most importantly, it’s not an entire nation of slaves.”

Indeed, based on Malcolm’s description, one might think (academic) progressives would find the show relevant to contemporary issues they consider rather important:

“[The Spellmans say] the series will likely feature an America divided, where the South has a system which looks like Apartheid-era South Africa. The goal, they say, is to show how today’s problems with racial issues — over-policing of black people, disenfranchisement through voter I.D. laws, lack of representation at the highest level of power — is rooted in the nation’s legacy of slavery.”

Nichelle says they would never create a story that would arouse white supremacists: “We are black and we are not going to create that reality. We are not doing that kind of show.”

As for Professor Dennis and those like him, Captain Kirk has a recommendation for y’all:

UPDATE: CNN reports that April Reign, creator of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, has now started #NoConfederate in hopes that HBO will ditch production of the show:

This Sunday at 9pm ET, during @GameOfThrones, we ask you to stand with us. We want to send a message to @hbo using hashtag #NoConfederate.

— April is in DC (@ReignOfApril) July 28, 2017

“We would like HBO to cancel #Confederate and instead uplift more marginalized voices with a different series,” she told CNN. “The premise of the show itself is without merit.”

Well, sure — that’s why it’s called fiction.

MORE: Profs given grant to overcome white male hegemony in science fiction. Or something

MORE: Everything progressivism touches, it ruins. Now it’s the geeks’ turn

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