Show was consciously racist in season 1

The only White male in Season 1, Captain Lorca, turned out to be a genocidal fascist dictator, playing into the prevailing racist undercurrent in US society when this was released.

This is not Star Trek anymore than having La Forge, the only Black main character in TNG season 1, revealed as a gangster who hijacks the enterprise at the end of season 1. Justifying the former and condemning the latter is a product of White Supremacist thinking, it’s the opposite of equality.

The quintessential premise of Trek is the rejection of these racist stereotypes not the validation of them.

TOS (and TNG), whilst released half a century ago contains a superior and an authentically timeless moral message. STD is Trek written to reflect the vulgar prejudices of its era rather than repudiate them. It’s Chekhov betraying the Enterprise because it’s 1966 and the Russians are the bad guys.