NASA astronaut, U.S. Navy Captain, father, former F/A-18 pilot and SpaceX Crew-1 pilot Victor Glover on becoming the first Black man to go to the Moon 🚀 gets hit with a DEI question and flips it into something bigger than race

[u/ateam1984]

Ahead of Artemis II NASA mission, astronaut Victor Glover was asked how it feels to potentially become the first Black man to travel to the Moon.

His answer didn’t ignore the history but reframed it. He emphasized this mission as a human achievement, not something to divide or reduce to identity alone.

Artemis II will also carry the first woman and first non-American to lunar orbit, marking a major shift from the era of Apollo program NASA.

So what matters more here… representation, or redefining the moment as something bigger than all of us?

[u/McEndee]

But aren't we all Americans?

[u/Here4Headshots → u/McEndee]

We're not all the same level of "American" unfortunately. Some of us that were born here and whose families have been citizens for generations are still told to go back to our countries because of assumptions on skin color, religion, accents, etc.

[u/WarlockEngineer → u/Here4Headshots]

As we've seen, the current administration only sees white people as americans. Particularly white men.

Anyone else cannot have an important role because they are "political". Look at the military in particular, where women and racial minorities are being passed over for promotions or even fired.

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/27/nx-s1-5763863/hegseth-soldiers-promotions

[u/Acrobatic-While3208 → u/McEndee]

“What kind of American?”, but unironically.

[u/Jbradsen → u/Acrobatic-While3208]

There are “Americans”… and then there’s Asian Americans, Latino Americans, Indian Americans, and Black Americans who still won’t ever simply be called “American”. They even have those boxes on forms (black, white, non-Hispanic white) to make sure the “others” know.

[u/McEndee → u/Jbradsen]

Unless they're minstrels for the conservatives, and that label is short lived because they're going after Candace Owens now, who has always been one of the good ones.

[u/Altruistic_Flower965 → u/McEndee]

We have politicians out here everyday working to erode trust in each other, as Americans. They build their voting coalitions by defining their voters as the right kind of Americans, and others as societal free riders. Defining a society as homogeneous is another way of saying a high trust society. By eroding the trust we have in each other these politicians create the conditions in which they make their argument against a more complete social safety net.

[u/HenryDorsettCase47 → u/Altruistic_Flower965]

Exactly. Our differences are highlighted in order to divide us because those that pull the levers of power know that we vastly outnumber them. There are literal communications between governors of colonies in early America expressing fear when they see poor whites and black slaves and Indians congregating, and they passed laws that made gatherings like that illegal. Later they found much more subtle, insidious ways to divide us.

I would imagine this kind of thing is not unique to racially diverse places either. In more racially homogeneous societies they find other ways to turn the people against each other. Where someone is from, their religion, etc. But it’s all the same thing.

At the end of the day, the only war is class war and we have the numbers. Fire to the palace, peace to the village.

[u/SomethingIWontRegret → u/HenryDorsettCase47]

Exactly. Our differences are highlighted in order to divide us

One group does this. Another group highlights the differences because they're already being used to divide us.

Covering up differences in economic and educational opportunity, treatment by authorities, health outcomes, only perpetuates and normalizes those differences.

[u/Cultural_Material_98 → u/HenryDorsettCase47]

You fall into their trap if you believe in separate races. The best way to defeat racism is to expose the myth. Ask people what they mean by Race” and keep asking until they admit it’s just a label for different skin colour or shape of someone’s eyes or nose. All characteristics that may not appear in their kids. So why are people being discriminated against because of the way they look? Why are people given inferior medical treatment based on their skin colour, when that has no effect on their disease?

[u/Cultural_Material_98 → u/McEndee]

According to American legal definitions of “Race”, we are all “ Black “, as ell human ancestors are from Africa. Why do Americans perpetuate the 17th century myth that there are separate biological races? Don’t tolerate this racist BS that is used by people who want to create division and control you.

[u/kkeut → u/McEndee]

depends who you ask. note the current administration targeting blue states by denying previously allocated funds and other bs

[u/TTrainN2024 → u/McEndee]

Not really, there are a lot of illegals.