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Watch Astronaut Victor Glover Utterly Destroy a Reporter's Disgraceful DEI Question About His Being Black

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As it turns out, members of the group Diversity, Equity and Inclusion claim to help are also exhausted with it.

CBS News reported Thursday NASA’s Artemis II took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida the previous day for a mission around the moon.

The pilot for that mission is Astronaut Victor Glover. While being part of the first mission since Apollo 53 years ago to go to the moon is an achievement in itself, reporters could not resist asking Glover about something far less important: being the first black man to do so.

Glover handled the question well, shifting the emphasis away from a milestone for a race and towards what this meant for humanity.

“It is a big question and I want to highlight… the tension,” Glover said.

“I live in this dichotomy between happiness that a young woman can look at Christina [Astronaut and Artemis II crew member Christina Koch] and just physicalize her passion or her interest, or even if it’s not something she wants to do, she can just be like, ‘girl power’ and that’s awesome.

“And that young brown boys and girls can look at me and go, ‘Hey, he looks like me and he’s doing what?’ and that’s great and I love that, but I also hope we are pushing the other direction that one day we don’t have to talk about these first that one day this is just the human history.”

“It’s about human history,” Glover said.

“It’s the story of humanity, not black history, not women’s history, but that it becomes human history.”

The question about Glover’s race is peculiar to say the least.

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Do black people float differently in space? What about women?

This identity politics-fueled line of questioning to perpetuate these divisive narratives is losing its shine even with the people it claims to lift up.

Glover is an astronaut. This is a role he finds himself in through merit.

We’ve unfortunately lost astronauts on failed missions before. Glover’s race ranks dead last among the reasons why he’s in this high-stakes position.

There is a patronizing and subtle bigotry here in creating doubt about the achievements of black Americans.

The question about Glover’s race can only plant the seeds that his hard work is not what brought him here, but the way he looks.

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Sam Short is an Assistant Professor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in his articles are his own and do not reflect the views or opinions of Motlow State Community College.




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