Whitey watches a 2025 Space Flight

In ’65 came Medicaid,
(While Whitey was on the Moon)
A rap god¹ scribed histight tirade
(While Whitey was on the Moon)
Pissed at his sister’s doctor bills²
(As Whitey went to the Moon)
Trivial trillion bucks that killed
Whitey’s joys trips to the Moon.³

Did anything even come of that?
Rocket shuttles scuttled soon⁴
Rent shoots up, but pay’s still flat
Since Whitey’s off the Moon.⁵

Two Blacks, a Brown, two Whites, a Yellow flew⁶
(Like Whitey to the Moon)
Racists reduce them to color
And the color blind ignore such hue.⁷
You’re damned if you see it,
You’re damned if you don’t,
Amazonian babe might feel it,⁸
But most of us won’t.
(Maybe that’s how we lost the Moon.)

1. Gil Scott Heron has been described as a “Godfather of Rap.” One of his poem/songs, “Whitey on the Moon,” drew a fair bit of attention when the US celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing in 2019.
2. The framing device for Heron’s poem, “Whitey on the Moon” is a reference to “Sister Nell” who was bit by a rat and went to a doctor, where the bills stacked up. The speaker in Heron’s poem intended to send those bills by airmail to “Whitey on the moon.” Snarky/witty as f — k.
3. The 2025 budget for NASA is about $25 billion. The Medicaid budget in 2025 is about $880 billion. The US spends about $35 on medical care for Medicaid recipients (primarily poor people like the speaker in “Whitey on the Moon”) for each buck spent on space missions. In a manner of speaking, Heron “won” a debate about budget priorities and got exactly what he wanted. I doubt he was happy about it.
4. The Space Shuttle program replaced the Apollo missions as the USA primary rocket launching system. They launched 135 missions into space. Some of those missions launched systems we still rely on today, or led to key technologies like GPS, telecommunications, and more. The total cost for the space shuttle program was about $200 billion in 2011.
5. Heron’s poem criticizes discriminatory and predatory practices on Earth — rent hikes, junkies, nobody has any money. Most of those criticisms in 1970 aren’t all that different 55 years later. The last human mission to the Moon was in 1972.
6. On April 14, 2025, six astronauts flew on a mission into space backed by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos’ “Blue Origin.” Press reports focused on the fact that the crew consisted entirely of female astronauts — the first such mission ever launched. While that’s interesting, it’s also interesting how US President Donald Trump sought to eradicate every form of (ethnic) diversity program in America.
7. Referring to anyone this way makes me feel slimy. Which is weird. I’m predisposed to respect Heron’s reference to “Whitey” — but once that’s accepted, why is extending the same racial/skin tone reduction improper for “Blackie,” “Brownie” and “Yellowie”? Perhaps its even more problematic that media outlets downplayed the ethnic identity aspect of the astronauts and focused instead on gender. As if the one was “too controversial” and the other was not? Yet if we deliberately “unsee” what is “plainly” happening, do we actually see anything at all?
8. Lauren Sanchez, mission pilot for NS 31, is engaged to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and main owner of Blue Origin. I have no idea whether she’s a good pilot or a bad pilot, but she wouldn’t have had an opportunity to make this flight but-for her future husband. Hers is no Amelia Earhart saga.

A.D. Carson’s article from The Conversation ponders how privilege enabled non-Black people to ‘pursue their prideful pet projects” — citing a prominent progressive prosciption (not to mention the penile protuberance of Blue Origin’s capsule).

Gil Scott Heron ignored the whole Medicaid saga and used medical bills as a mere framing device to pronounce his point. America actually spent far, far more on those medical costs: but who cares? Yet the fury of “Whitey on the Moon” may prove painfully prophetic — since a massive part of the Medicaid budget is slated for painful cuts in 2025.

A.D. Carson, who wrote the piece in The Conversation in 2021 commenting on Heron’s poem, captures this point poignantly, citing Professor of Physics and Astronomy Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s point that social welfare and space exploration need not be an either/or proposition.

Will Black creativity go to space before everyday Black folks — not just Black astronauts — are afforded the opportunity?
A.D. Carson, “Why Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘Whitey on the Moon’ still feels relevant today,” from The Conversation (July 21, 2021)

Carson answers his own hypothetical, referring to a 2012 incident in which the Curiosity rover played “Reach for the Stars” on Mars.

There’s no words to explain how amazing this is…

…The point of the song is to remind people … that anything is possible if you discipline yourself and dedicate yourself and stand for something…

will.i.am, speaking to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2012