Africans Choose To Go To Mars

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In Moon Mesh, I mentioned President Kennedy’s “We choose to go to the Moon” speech. Yesterday, I read that Charles Bolden the 62-year old, first African-American head of NASA expects that humans will set foot on Mars during his lifetime. This idea which I agree with,  reminded me of a sci-fi story where black folks choose to go to Mars to escape racism. It also reminded me that great deal of change has happened during my lifetime and a great deal more is yet to come.

In his now classic 1950 Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury took what was at that time a very bold step of putting a spotlight on race. One of the book’s short stories, Way In The Middle of The Air tells a tale about oppressed black folk who figure out how to leave Earth and head to Mars in order to escape the inhumane treatment they’d been subjected to.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT IT?
“About what?”
“The niggers, the niggers!”
“What about ‘em?”
“Them leaving, pulling out, going away; did you hear?”
“What you mean pulling out? How can they do that?”
“They can, they will, they are”
“Just a couple?”
“Every single one here in the South!
“No.”
“Yes!”
“I got to see that. I don’t believe it. Where they going – Africa?”
A silence.
“Mars.”
“You mean the planet Mars?”
“That’s right.”
…
“They can’t leave, they can’t do that.”
“They’re doing it anyways.”
…
Samuel Teece wouldn’t believe it. “Why, hell, where;d they get the transportation? How they goin’ to get to Mars?”
“Rockets.” said Grandpa quartermain.
“All the damn fool things. Where’d they get rockets?”
“Saved their money and built them.”
” I never heard about it.”
“Seems these niggers kept it secret, worked on the rockets all themselves, don’t know where – in Africa maybe.”

NOTE: Way In The Middle of The Air doesn’t appear in the 2006 reprint

Although oppressed, these fictional black folk somehow come up with a cadre of engineers who are able to build their own rockets – this is a powerful notion! In some ways it’s even more powerful than having an African-American head of NASA or even an African-American President. Both Charles Bolden and Barack Obama are incredibly talented exceptions employed by the government and thus constrained with regard to what they can do directly for their communities. When companies like the next Google, Intel or IBM are founded by African-Americans; when tech companies on the Black Enterprise 100 are household names, our communities will be stronger and better able to make contributions. The challenges of going to Mars will require a stronger America which in turn will need much greater participation by African-Americans who are currently grossly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math.

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Filed under Race, STEM, Space