The biggest long term story this spring should be the United States' return to manned space flight in rockets designed and built in America. The Falcon 9 Rocket and the Dragon space capsule are truly USA products. This time, we didn't rely on German rocket scientists to send us into space.*
But, there is systemic problem here. None of the primary rocket scientist all-stars who are responsible for the Falcon rocket and Dragon Space capsule are black. The problem is magnified when we realize that millions of black kids are under educated, not educated at all, or are trapped in the school to prison pipeline. Understanding that one of the premier brain surgeons in the world started as a black kid in the Detroit slums, a future chess world champion might be a black refugee who became homeless in NYC, and three black ladies played an important and vital role in calculating launch and orbital mechanics in the early days of NASA, we quickly realize that a tremendous amount of brain power and talent is wasting away in menial jobs, on the streets, on drugs, or in prison in the United States. I'm talking specifically about blacks here.
The solution to this problem cannot be found in yacking about "systematic racism". Nor can a solution be found in destroying confederate statues, changing the name of army bases, reforming cops, or having white people apologize for white privilege. The solution definitely won't be found in attitudes like if you don't do this or that, you "ain't black".
The national civil rights efforts, the war on poverty, and affirmative action, bussing,
and deliberate diversity and inclusion efforts have been with us for more than a half-century. If those things worked, we would see results now. They don't work. Our rocket scientists are still white.
I'm no way near smart enough to have all the answers to this problem except to note that the problem is systemic and the approach we have been taking for 50 years isn't working. Racism exists, and it will probably always exist. Laying off this social deficiency on things like "systemic racism" is a chickenshit and intellectually lazy way to look at the problem even if such phrases like "systemic racism" presented a way forward to solve the problems.
I suspect that the solutions need to start with attitudinal changes by all of us, not just the whites. Our white collective guilt, or even self-loathing for being white, tends to cause whites to view blacks as riding the short bus to school. Blacks have drummed into their psyche that they are repressed by circumstances beyond their control and react by wanting to destroy and rebuild "the system" what ever "the system" is. Well, "the system" gives us a great standard of living and enormous technology and accomplishments, like Spacex. We don't need to destroy the system. We need to figure out how to move all of us into a position to participate in the system.
Not all of us can be rocket scientists, brain surgeons, chess champions, or NASA mathematicians, but all us should have the opportunity become or do those things. I don t think the meaningful way forward is to destroy statues and change place names. In fact dwelling on the past is counterproductive. Ellon Musk is by no means an even tempered or easy person to work for. He had a child die of SIDS. He said this about grieving:
None of us should be seen as the a victim or a perpetrator. As we so often hear these days "we are in this together".
--end of rant--
*Elon Musk was born in South Africa. While a talented engineer and entrepreneur in his own right, the engineers he hired at Spacex to design and build the rockets were American.
But, there is systemic problem here. None of the primary rocket scientist all-stars who are responsible for the Falcon rocket and Dragon Space capsule are black. The problem is magnified when we realize that millions of black kids are under educated, not educated at all, or are trapped in the school to prison pipeline. Understanding that one of the premier brain surgeons in the world started as a black kid in the Detroit slums, a future chess world champion might be a black refugee who became homeless in NYC, and three black ladies played an important and vital role in calculating launch and orbital mechanics in the early days of NASA, we quickly realize that a tremendous amount of brain power and talent is wasting away in menial jobs, on the streets, on drugs, or in prison in the United States. I'm talking specifically about blacks here.
The solution to this problem cannot be found in yacking about "systematic racism". Nor can a solution be found in destroying confederate statues, changing the name of army bases, reforming cops, or having white people apologize for white privilege. The solution definitely won't be found in attitudes like if you don't do this or that, you "ain't black".
The national civil rights efforts, the war on poverty, and affirmative action, bussing,
and deliberate diversity and inclusion efforts have been with us for more than a half-century. If those things worked, we would see results now. They don't work. Our rocket scientists are still white.
I'm no way near smart enough to have all the answers to this problem except to note that the problem is systemic and the approach we have been taking for 50 years isn't working. Racism exists, and it will probably always exist. Laying off this social deficiency on things like "systemic racism" is a chickenshit and intellectually lazy way to look at the problem even if such phrases like "systemic racism" presented a way forward to solve the problems.
I suspect that the solutions need to start with attitudinal changes by all of us, not just the whites. Our white collective guilt, or even self-loathing for being white, tends to cause whites to view blacks as riding the short bus to school. Blacks have drummed into their psyche that they are repressed by circumstances beyond their control and react by wanting to destroy and rebuild "the system" what ever "the system" is. Well, "the system" gives us a great standard of living and enormous technology and accomplishments, like Spacex. We don't need to destroy the system. We need to figure out how to move all of us into a position to participate in the system.
Not all of us can be rocket scientists, brain surgeons, chess champions, or NASA mathematicians, but all us should have the opportunity become or do those things. I don t think the meaningful way forward is to destroy statues and change place names. In fact dwelling on the past is counterproductive. Ellon Musk is by no means an even tempered or easy person to work for. He had a child die of SIDS. He said this about grieving:
I'm not sure why I'd want to talk about extremely sad events. It does no good for the future. If you've got other kids and obligations, then wallowing in sadness does no good for anyone around you."
Similarly with the United States. We seem now pre-occupied in wallowing in our past--our sad past. A past that nobody alive now participated in. Yet the past lives on and on and on through our collective mind. That constructed memory really serves no purpose. This is why I am strongly in favor of making Juneteenth a national holiday. We should celebrate and remember the end of slavery. There is no useful purpose in belaboring and remembering the existence of slavery. The way forward is forward, probably with better and more meaningful educations. The way forward does not include circling back a couple of hundred years. Better education means more standards, not fewer standards. The way forward means higher expectations, not the bigotry of low expectations and personal behavioral leniency. Better education does not mean changing names like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson on public schools.
None of us should be seen as the a victim or a perpetrator. As we so often hear these days "we are in this together".
--end of rant--
*Elon Musk was born in South Africa. While a talented engineer and entrepreneur in his own right, the engineers he hired at Spacex to design and build the rockets were American.