Are there Colored Peeps in Space?
My usual morning routine is to get up, put a pod into my coffee maker, drop in some generic Splenda, half and half, add hot water, and then pop in the microwave. The same cup of coffee will probably be reheated in the microwave at least three times. There may still be some left to toss down the kitchen drain. I turn on YouTube for my microscopic view of what’s happening in my world this morning. News on the latest Clarence Thomas scandal headed the list, along with calls for Senator Dian Feinstein to retire, the Cash App killing, and of course, any what’s up with Trump. Generally, I zip past most but occasionally stop to watch the entire piece.
Today Was Different.
Today was different. The segment on the NASA James Webb Space Telescope adventures caught my attention. It’s the largest and most powerful space telescope to date and launched on December 25, 2021, from a site at Kourou in French Guiana, aboard an Arianespace Arian 5 rocket. I never thought much about it. It cost $10 billion at lunch, and its mission is to “uncover the history of the universe from the “Big Bang” to exoplanet formation and beyond.” (Space.com) I’ve always been a Sci-Fi nerd and knew I’d heard that phrase before, so I searched and landed on the PBS site “Origin of Everything.”
The story was fascinating. The pictures are mesmerizing. Short clips of interviews of scientists and technicians who were part of this billion-dollar project, some almost in tears as they described how they feel every time they look at the earliest known to us, for now, images this thing sends back to earth. The pictures the Webb satellite is sending back are even more spectacular. And as usual for me, I take notice of who is involved, and just like most scientific and electronic projects, there are few, if any, colored people. Now a couple of women were interviewed, but, Why?
We’ve got some catching up to do in that department.
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration has 17,373 employees. 35% of its employees are women, while 65% are men. “NASA now offers extensive educational efforts, including resources for educators and students at all grade levels, encouraging young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, math, or STEM. 2007, minority hiring at Kennedy increased to 23 percent.
Today, minorities (I hate this word) comprise 27.2 percent of just over 2,000 NASA civil service employees at the Florida Spaceport. While the Apollo Program was, in part, a response to competition in space with the Soviet Union, Kennedy, and Johnson saw NASA as an additional opening for progress on Earth. It was a chance to kick-start equal employment opportunities for deserving yet underrepresented groups, allowing them to contribute to a government program receiving global attention. “Everybody deserves to be treated equally and with respect,” Cabana said. “No one should ever be discriminated against for any reason.”
Last Updated: December 7, 2017
Editor: Bob Granath
On the Webb Satellite Project, there are some Women. Several Women of Color.”
Regarding the journalists working on that 60 Minute piece, they could have always made a better effort to include people of color in more in-depth stories. That’s what I want. I want young Women like my Granddaughter to see themselves sitting in those seats, staring at images from the satellites peering into our before-us images. And by this time, I would have thought we’d already mastered the art of inclusiveness begins with pictures and not just words. Change is change, the White population is aging, and most of their chillin'” are growing up in a world where diversity has become a more visual reality and norm. So now I can reheat my coffee knowing that my Grandson can see that there are Black pilots and that one is flying a rocket to the Moon.
Final Thoughts.
So who is James Edwin Webb?
James Edwin Webb (October 7, 1906 – March 27, 1992) was an American government official who served as Undersecretary of State from 1949 to 1952. He was the second Administrator of NASA from February 14, 1961, to October 7, 1968. Webb led NASA from the beginning of the Kennedy administration through the end of the Johnson administration, thus overseeing each of the critical first crewed missions throughout the Mercury and Gemini programs until days before the launch of the first Apollo mission.
What’s All The Noise About Diversity?
“Overall, the white-alone population fell by 8.6% since 2010, the Census Bureau said. Non-Hispanic whites now account for around 58% of America’s population, a drop from 2010 when they made up 63.7%. It was the first time the non-Hispanic white population fell below 60% since the census began.”
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If you want to know why all the noise from right-wing White supremacists, they are freaking out because their “side” fell to 8.5%. That’s why all the noise about abortion. We need more White chillins’. So this battle will continue until the next census shows more of them. I doubt that will happen.