Black Power Ranger Walter Jones -- The Show Wasn't ALWAYS Racist

The Pink Ranger was a ditzy white girl ... the Yellow Ranger was Asian ... the Black Ranger was black -- but the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" didn't start out quite SO racist ... so says one of its original stars.

Walter Jones -- a.k.a. the dancing Black Ranger -- was out in LA, when our photog (HUGE "PR" fan) had to ask about the pretty blatant stereotypes used on the show ... marketed towards kids.

Jones KNEW exactly what our guy was referencing, but tells TMZ, despite how racist the show ended up, it didn't start that way. He says the original Yellow Ranger was Latina, NOT Asian. Who knew?

But then Jones talks about the casting process for the Black Ranger -- and it starts to sound racist all over again. Example: Hip-Hop was a requirement.