Posted on 05/02/2002 7:45:58 AM PDT by H8DEMS
Following this guy's logic, if I'm not mistaken, any Africans that have moved to America would be -- tada -- Americans, right? So they can drop the BLACK thing?
Will our feelings change the past? Should we feel that a quota system should exist on the entire continent of Africa, and that any success or fame be meted out proportionally?
Maybe BET should be asking why black culture disdains the very skills, work ethic and dedication that would be required to achieve such an honor. Maybe BET should examine why they have singled out this White African because of his race. Maybe BET stop running videos honoring pimpin', killin', thuggin', and "gettin' whutz mine", and run some that honor great accomplishments... like space travel, no matter what the racial, ethnic, or cultural background of the person who makes that accomplishment.
Only if it's one-way though...
Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. was the first be chosen for the space program. He would have been the first black man in space but he was tragically killed in a training flight in 1967.
The first African American astronaut that made it was Guion Stewart Bluford, Jr. who was a mission specialist in 1983. Now, a Cuban cosmonaut of African descent by the name of Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez became the first black and first hispanic in space at the same time abord a Soyuz in 1980.
So, people of African origin have been involved in space exploration for decades. Please catch up to the rest of us, thank you.
posted May 02, 2002 08:13 AM
It's great that there is someone from Africa who went in space. But if u want to give someone title of the "First African in Space". I truly believe that it should be a true black African who shoould get the title. Since from the begining of time to African mean black.
who went in space (used the toilet?)... from the begining of time to African mean black?
When I was a young man I could believe your statement but the older I get I find it just wishfull thinking.
I sometimes think the same..Dax.....i just try to keep the faith......while not closing my eyes to the realities we see....its a hard fight.
I say send Rodney King on one of those time capsule flights!
Richard Pryor said, 'If you want to see a black man get to the moon, just put all the pu**y up there!'
OK, which is he; French or African? Make up your frikkin' mind. You would think that, just having raised it as an issue they wouldn't have made a correlating mistake. What a bunch of dumb@sses.
I suppose it all depends on how you look at it. While "Ham" was born on the African continent, he was subsequently brought to the United States to fly a Mercury test flight when he was approximately 44 months old. Does that make him an "American"?
But it was the Soviets who put up the first dog (indeed, the first animal) in space, a Huskie named "Laika." Since Laika was purportedly a stray picked up off the streets of Moscow, I guess that would make it the first "European" in space.
A ludicrous discussion? Perhaps, but probably no more so than debating the pros and cons of a white South African being the first "African" in space.
That's right! They have had the mothership for years. Also, don't forget that "black" Egyptians used to be able to fly, until "The Man" came along and ruined things there.
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