As for Worf, let's remember that most if not all Klingons in the 60s were played by white actors (though arguably in semi-yellowface, which would defeat the purpose of this point) . . .
“Semi-yellowface” implies that the Klingons are supposed to be Asians, or quasi-Asians, or sort-of-like Asians. Of course, they're not of any Earth race or ethnicity. They're a fictional people from a fictional interstellar empire. That's the great thing about Star Trek aliens -- an actor of any race can play a Klingon, a Romulan, a Vulcan, whatever. All they need is the appropriate facial prosthetics.
The same could be argued for Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon since he's not human, but most everyone agrees that at least the most popular incarnation of Ming is a very racist creation. And whatever one's beliefs are in Code of Honor, both arguments are rooted in the fact that the native population is very visibly black, despite being non-Humans.
Now, would I necessarily blame TOS? Back then Asians as a whole were considered the enemy. The Korean War was still fresh in people's minds, there was trepidation in dealing with Japanese companies, China semi-recently became a communist power right next to the USSR, the US had immigration quotas for Asian countries, and Vietnam was already making news. As with TNG, I don't blame the writers but the atmosphere at the time (however, if TOS resorted to racial slurs, then yeah, there would be a problem. Even some of McCoy's banter with Spock would raise some eyebrows today, even though they were two sides of a coin).
And to be honest with you, I can see where people are coming from in connecting the Ferengi and Jewish stereotypes, but thankfully DS9 helped overturn some of those arguments. While I may or may not agree with their arguments, I still feel like I would have to acknowledge it in some way and not automatically dismiss it, but discuss it.
as people always assume. you pull the racist card, you win every argument.
Not really, no. One reason to argue is to get people on your side, and pulling the race card doesn't do that very often. With society trying to be post-racial, there's something ironic with being politically correct; while intentions are good in trying to eliminate racial divisions, we also lose sight of what makes humanity diverse and thus equally important in each way. I feel that while this thread might not warrant it, pulling the race card is sometimes (oftentimes) valid for shining a light on something that wasn't perceived as a problem before. It kills me that these days, bringing up some sort of injustice is quickly perceived as "pulling the race card," because then it implies a laziness to productively discuss all topics that would surround it: what qualifies as racism, how far have we come when dealing with racism, can minorities sabotage any advancements, etc. etc.
So perhaps the OP isn't the best way to have racial dialogue, but racial dialogue is good for growth. And I would prefer that dialogue not to be divisive, but to bring both sides to the table in a civil way -- few people these days strive to be racists, so it's best to approach any discussion as if both sides want to understand where the other is coming from.
Now, having said that, I must reiterate that no, I don't think TNG was racist.
Edit: I'd also like to point out that there are at least three notable Blind Black musicians: Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and d'Arnault from My Antonia. And yet, when we think of Black musicians as a whole, in our minds we tend to think of musicians that are otherwise perfectly healthy. While Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder are indeed forces to be reckoned with, we also think of people like Marvin Gaye, Alicia Keyes, Aretha Franklin, et all. So I'm quite skeptical of being blind and black as some sort of stereotype (though one could argue that we should see more handi-capable people on TV, but that's really a topic for another day. Knowledge of one subject leads to another subject to another subject... thanks, Wiki!).
