In 1970, poet Gil Scott-Heron released "Whitey on the Moon," and more than 50 years later Victor Glover listens to it every week. The poem keeps him thinking about his roots, moon missions and the lives of Black Americans.
Gil Scott-Heron's poem says: "I can't pay no doctor bill. (but Whitey's on the moon) Ten years from now I'll be payin' still. (while Whitey's on the moon)."
Glover spoke about the song's urgent reminder that "everybody wasn't having a good time" in 1968 when the first Apollo missions launched. Black folks were waist-deep in the Civil Rights Movement, and fighting for a future without systemic poverty.
In July 1969, Rev. Ralph Abernathy led 500 marchers with two mules and a wooden wagon to the Kennedy Space Center as part of the Poor People's Campaign. The purpose was to show the hypocrisy of spending $20 billion on the Apollo 11 mission while millions of people in the U.S. couldn’t afford food or housing.
Abernathy argued that "one-fifth of the population lacks adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. The money for the space program should be spent to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, and house the shelterless." Many Black-led organizations are doing life-changing work to address these ongoing issues today. We can support them by referrals and donations. We all we got.