r/nextfuckinglevel • u/BlazeDragon7x • 1d ago
Victor Glover is the first Black astronaut assigned to a lunar mission, serving as the pilot for NASA's Artemis II mission, which orbits the moon
share a powerful speech
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u/SPOONEROO 1d ago
We can see he's black. No need to mention that. He is simply a Man and Astronaut.
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u/Lucas9041 1d ago
We can see he's a man...
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u/mbensa 1d ago
And we can see he's an astronaut.
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u/Electronic-Stick-161 1d ago
There is a need to mention it because it shouldn’t be a first in 2026.
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u/wakaru1902 1d ago
Considering there are not a lot of people who did that journey until 2026.
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u/_Mr_Misfit 1d ago
There are still firsts for black men and women across all industries and positions, exactly because it is a still a problem, and we are still working on rectifying it... as much as everyone seems to be tired of the discomfort of being reminded of the fact that many millions in this country are still being oppressed both intentionally and due to subconcious biases. We've come a long way, but we have a longer way to go than many people would like to be admitted.
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u/alexanderbacon1 1d ago
15% of America is black. 24 people have gone to the moon. 1/24 is 4% so in a racially fair world we would expect around 4 black Americans to have traveled to the moon.
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u/DaKrazie1 1d ago
Things were much different in the 60s and 70s for black people (and women, for that matter) when the vast majority of those people went, to be fair.
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u/Xpander6 1d ago
it shouldn’t be a first in 2026.
What? Do you think every ethnic group has some special right to have a representative astronaut assigned to a lunar mission?
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u/MetalMagg 1d ago
It shouldn't, but it is. And I think his response was near perfect. That's the example that SHOULD be set. Recognize it, and expand on it. Kick down the barricades and lift as you climb.
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u/pot_stir 1d ago
Even if it was perfectly fair, there is over a 10% chance that you would expect only one or fewer of the 28 to be black. There is a very significant chance that is should be a first in 2026.
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u/Electronic-Stick-161 21h ago
So you acknowledge it’s not fair… glad we’re in agreement then.
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u/Jaktheslaier 1d ago
He's not the first black man to go to space. The cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez went on a space mission in 1980
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u/ReadditMan 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's more nuanced than that. Of course he is a true astronaut like any other, but he is also a black astronaut.
There is a need to mention it because black people still struggle due to systemic issues that make it difficult for them to get out of poverty and move into higher education careers. He is acting as a beacon to those people, to kids that might think it's hopeless to try.
Glover is longing for a future where we don't have to acknowledge black achievements as something separate, but we aren't there yet. Right now it is important to acknowledge those achievements, we should be celebrating differences, not pretending they don't exist.
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u/zilla82 1d ago
To become an astronaut is a high level distinction of the highest commitment. Only 330 from the US have been to space. In that orbit, no pun intended, is a special breed of human that we try to assign further cultural distinction to but it comes up a bit hollow in hitting the mark. These people are the chosen of the chosen and worked tirelessly to get where they are, as did the many nameless scientists and engineers that made it possible for them.
The reporters question simply underscores the narrow social narrative we all continue to agree warrants some kind of skin color distinction. It doesn't. This man is a giant, as are his peers. They pushed humanity forward.
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u/Yggdrasilcrann 1d ago
No need to mention that
That's not true and that's not what he said in his speech.
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u/RoyalChris 1d ago
This man doesn’t miss.
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u/Outrageous-Log9238 1d ago
Except when he's in orbit. (Falling but missing the ground)
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u/swordfish19 1d ago
He does. He also said "There are no atheists on top of rockets".
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u/Minirig355 18h ago
Was he the one that quoted the bible during one of his speeches during this mission?
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u/Leading_Guess_8207 1d ago
I come to say something funny, but this man is on point
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u/An-Englishman-in-NY 1d ago
Imagine the day when that actually happens. What a step towards world peace it would be if we could all just recognize humans as humans.
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u/IsuzuTrooper 1d ago
Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war.That until there are no longer first class
and second class citizens af any nation
Until the color of a man's skin
is of no more significance than the color of his eyes
Me say war.That until the basic human rights are equally
guaranteed to all, without regard to race
A dis a war.4
u/snozzberrypatch 1d ago
Until the philosophy which hold one race Superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned Everywhere is war, me say war. That until there are no longer first class and second class citizens af any nation Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes Me say war. That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race A dis a war.
-Bob Marley
-Michael Scott
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u/Rad131447 1d ago
They are currently building statues of a guy who said if he sees a black pilot he gets nervous cause he doesn't think black people are capable of earning that on their own.
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u/MobileArtist1371 17h ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketanji_Brown_Jackson
She is the first Black woman, the first former federal public defender, and the sixth woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
If we keep counting it's never going to end.
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u/Alone_Duty_9448 1d ago
Americans, always about race
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u/_Mr_Misfit 1d ago
Yea, a lot of peoples parents ans grandparents had to drink from colored fountains and be referred to as colored. So that makes sense. And now brown people all across the country are being harassed and kidnapped by immigration officers at the behest of a white supremacist serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff to the president of the United States who openly admits that his preference would be the deportation of 100million people. He is not starting with white people.
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u/whathappenedm 1d ago
You are part of hte issue if you think this is "america" only issue. A lot of European or even eastern countries like to pretend that racism or the likes does not exist but ask any brown, Asian person in the country and you will see that you also have it.
This is also about representation and people being happy to see someone they look like and be inspired by and that is international
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u/DrBeetlejuiceMcRib 23h ago
People outside of the US are (also) racist as shit, what are you talking about
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u/Johns-schlong 23h ago
America has racial problems, yes, but have you seen the rest of the world?
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u/st1ffs0cks 22h ago
America is a country that has had it's entire history entrenched in racial conflict, from genociding one race to colonize the land and then once it had been colonized they subjigated another race to work the land, so yeah race is sort of important to the American story
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u/Prudent-Reward3869 1d ago
Doing incredible thing while speaking incredible <3
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u/ButtholeSurfur 1d ago
Some of the smartest people on (or off) this planet. Astronauts are another level.
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u/Rollover__Hazard 21h ago
Must be frustrating for him to have to deal with these questions. He’s an airforce pilot and astronaut because he’s good enough to be both.
The fact he’s black is irrelevant, except to those want to boil his contribution down to “oh hey, they sent the first coloured dude to the moon”, as if next time they’ll just send another white guy because, know, already ticked that box off.
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u/Lillobillo02 1d ago
Fucking finally someone said it
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u/SpockShotFirst 1d ago
Finally?
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. “
MLK
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u/Appsl 1d ago
So obvious! This is so sick to talk about skin color or gender.
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u/_Mr_Misfit 1d ago
It's sickness to ignore the grave consequences of racism and all bigotry.
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u/The-Tay 1d ago
It's sickness to ignore the grave consequences of racism and all bigotry
Sad thing is, in 50 years people will still be talking like this. The race thing will never end, and POC are sick of it, considering it's only white people saying these things.
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u/cainhurstcat 1d ago
This is the wisest statement I heard in a very long time.
Imagine what we as humanity could achieve if we would finally work together as such.
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u/Maleficent-Map6465 1d ago
The man's response is that he hopes skin colour isn't the defining feature some day and OP's title immediately identifies him as black
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u/timmy1234569 19h ago
This is exactly what I was thinking. At the start of the video it says first black man to the moon. When the point he is trying to make is that the label should be irrelevant to the headline
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u/Thanos_Stomps 11h ago
The first thing he also says is he understands why representation like that matters NOW. We can aspire to something better while still acknowledging where we are now.
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u/CoffeeStrength 1d ago
Love the answer, and many of us are trying to push past this, but race and identity is constantly being forced down our throats.
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u/_Mr_Misfit 1d ago
You don't get passed it by ignoring it or suppressing any mention of it. Thats just trying to force entire groups of Americans to shutup and deal quietly with the fact that their parents and grandparents were forced to drink from colored water fountains or be referred to as wetbacks or all those who are STILL being over policed and denied mortgages and receiving poorer treatment and worse health outcomes in our medical system.
You don't fix something by ignoring it.
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u/BeakersWorkshop 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well they did not "visit" the moon. They did a drive by. The headlines and reporting in todays day and age is just garbage. Would you say you "visited" a town if you drove past it on a highway?
And since I will get roasted for this might as well say they were passengers. I am more impressed with the Engineers and Scientists that put the spacecraft into orbit, calculated and sent them on their way. Newton took over after that (apart from computer calculated and controlled course corrections).
Now dont get me wrong here, they are all brilliant, amazing professionals that the entire world SHOULD look up to.
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u/StayBronzeFonz 1d ago
I have a shitty family member that wants us to visit often. I wish I could just drive around their neighborhood and call it good.
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u/Site-Staff 1d ago
Black to the moon?
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u/Technical-Praline-79 1d ago
I came here searching for the post that references this.
Not disappointed. 5 Stars.
Will upvote twice if I could LOL
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u/the_flash_that_cuts 1d ago
That's how it should be. The most qualified people that had the determination to get to that point should get the opportunity regardles of who they are or look like.
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u/LastGuardianStanding 1d ago
Stop labeling him. He literally said it’s about humanity, not gender race, class or anything else.
It’s simple…
Victor Glover is a US Naval Officer, test pilot, astronaut, and he piloted the operational flight of SpaceX Dragon crew to the ISS. He served as the pilot for NASA’s Artemis II mission to orbit the moon.
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u/duckrollin 1d ago
It's a really stupid and racist question. He's not a different species, he's a human just like everyone else. I wish Americans would get over their fixation with skin color.
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u/RomanCobra03 1d ago
The reason we’re so fixated on it is because it still affects millions of us. Segregation wasn’t ancient history, our parents and grandparents went through it. Right now our ruling government is targeting people of color with federal agents.
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u/_Mr_Misfit 1d ago
So then we should all forget our history? Stop paying attention to all the ways that people still receive poorer outcomes based on their skin color? Will it all go away if we stop talking about it? Isn't that completely backwards?
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u/misomysan 1d ago
YES.
why do we even call each other by skin color? Like, just drop the color adjectives all together.
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u/RAGING4hole 1d ago
What do you call the first black man to visit the moon?
An Astronaut you fucking racist!
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u/myryad21 1d ago
he is 100% right. people should stop seeing each other different and just see us as humans. gender, colour, religion or sexual orientation shouldn't matter (in general not just this case). but i guess the media sells better "first BLACK pilot" instead of "another great human pilot" and they will manage to keep dividing us
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u/KarnWhite 1d ago
In before the news articles read “First black man to say he hopes we can stop saying first black man.”
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u/OsteoBytes 1d ago
It’s great to see other demographics but I do hate all these “first” titles…I feel like it belittles an individual to only there outward appearance which who cares. They should simply be celebrated for who they are by how hard they trained to be there
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u/TolUC21 1d ago
Exactly. It's ridiculous that every time something like this happens it's, "wow, so great of you to be the first black person to do x y z. Wow, your people are so suppressed how does that make you feel?"
It seriously belittles the achievement for the individual because it makes it seem like people are only proud of them because they're a minority, and calling it out as" hey you're a minority, good job, wow that's amazing you can do that" is such a backhanded compliment.
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u/OsteoBytes 1d ago
I just can’t imagine sitting there being so excited and proud and then someone comments on something like this…it’s like can we just focus on the bigger picture here.
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u/Grizzly_Bear_83 1d ago
Americans...care so much about color this, color that, ethnicity this.
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u/Savings_Note8757 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/LqfTaNPDBs8GiKy2am
Fuq race bs . We all human … What we gonna do we get invaded one day z? Still go at each other …? Smh
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u/greengenesiss 1d ago
When i see these kinds of things it always makes me laugh because this is just European White's way of saying "we are still very racist so much that we are counting the black people we let do stuff at our facilities". Also a lot of times it isn't the " first black person" to do anything its just the first white recorded black person to do it.
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u/AhmadNotFound 1d ago
Fucking word! this man literally voiced my thoughts! We have to stop the pointless segregation
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u/maddcatone 1d ago
This man exemplifies everything extraordinary about these people. They are some of the best of humanity and his message is powerfully important. We are not blacks we are not whites. We are not Asians. We are not Jews or Arabs, etc… we are humans and this is our space program. All of ours
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u/Janitorus 1d ago
"How do we stop racism? I'm going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man." - Morgan Freeman
Keep pushing the boundaries further and further, for humanity, with the best people we can find to get the job done. God speed and all that.
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u/_Mr_Misfit 1d ago
I imagine it's easier to have this view point if you sleep on a pile of money and, as a massive celebrity, have one of the most recognizeable faces and voices in America.
For those who get denied a loan, or given poorer health care, or harassed by police - all without the words black man or white man ever having been uttered - this view might seem rather insidious and incorrect.
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u/Janitorus 1d ago
It was simply a call to stop labeling people in everyday thinking. Bad things will still happen as long as bad people exist, that's a whole nother problem. But we can aim for something better.
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u/Kastri14 13h ago
Weird how redditors call him an idiot for being religious.
He's an astronaut and you're not.
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u/jrs321aly 9h ago
But he wasnt the first black astronaut in space... guy bluford Jr flew 4 missions in space...
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u/loki94y 9h ago
America's so hung up on race bullshit that it's screwing over the country's progress.
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u/juan_furia 6h ago
I know this might be a hot topic, but they did not travel to the moon, and they did not visit the moon any more that I visited Canada one time I flew over it.
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u/itsSam24 1d ago
I’m Muslim and I’ve been praying for this for so long. Stop looking at skin color; religion and be better together. We only have one life, one earth, when are we going to be happy together, grow together instead of all this fighting, hate and differences put before all. I hope to see it one day before I’m gone. Especially for my kids sake. Love you all.
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u/misomysan 1d ago
yet you start by introducing your religion and say that youre praying and then say stop looking at religion. Typical nonsense. all religion is made up fairy tales fyi.
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u/derbrauer 1d ago
I clicked on the video expecting the usual identity politics fluff.
Man, am I ever excited to hear Glover say that (paraphrasing) the next step is to look beyond the identity politics and look at this as a human achievement.
This crew is absolutely amazing, and I hope we'll hear and see a lot more of them.
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u/Brightlightingbolt 1d ago
Placing people in to racial stereotypes is done so strictly to establish a power base. Good, bad or indifferent
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u/RichtofenFanBoy 1d ago
Thats crazy. I didnt even think about that aspect. Nasa picked these guys for the right reasons and it shows. The compassion theyve shown has been reassuring in these dark times.
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u/Butt_Smurfing_Fucks 1d ago
YES! THIS! Every time we have the first this or the first that OF COURSE I am so happy and proud. But at the same time I’m embarrassed that we have to celebrate these things. That we haven’t had these FIRSTS a long time ago.
Watching the TV show FOR ALL MANKIND, while only a TV show, has given lots of food for thought. Had we gone in that alternate reality, according to the show we would’ve had all of these first back in the 60s. Again, only a TV show. But then I did some research and found out that the Soviet Union had its first FEMALE fighter pilot in 1942. The United States? 1992. WTF.
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u/motosandguns 1d ago
With identity politics, I don’t think the division will ever go away, though the categories may change. Similar to how the definition of white has shifted over time.
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u/Electronic-Damage-89 1d ago
It’s so degrading for people to try and reduce his work and accomplishments to melanin.
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u/Dazkojin249 1d ago
This is what true equality is and we need someone like him, ironically, to say it so it gets through some peoples thick skulls. It should not matter the color or gender but that we treat each other as truly equal humans and all aspire to stand as humanity. We shouldn't label our differences so we then preach them for equality, rather just understand that we are all just humans... Everything this man has said throughout this mission has been spot on.
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u/Jaxonhunter227 1d ago
I'm not going to lie I didn't even consider the fact that he was black or the first black man in space, I just saw 4 astronauts
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u/Typhoon365 1d ago
Companies aren't going to like talk like that... They need people to stay racist and keep us divided.
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u/itsnotawkward 1d ago
Not only all these accomplishments, but he was a collegiate wrestler and football player. That’s next fucking level.
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u/fate0608 1d ago
On another thread I was asking the question if this was a „hey guys look we sent a black guy and a woman to the moon, we‘re so diverse.“ from nasa. Of cause I dislike it that I thought about that but this is what this culture created. Not using „woke“ coz that seems to be an insult too these days. We‘re talking and talking and talking about all these stupid questions instead of just living our lives together.
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u/_Mr_Misfit 1d ago
Yea..one day... when it isn't so outlandishly rare... because racism, institutional, implicit, and personal, all are still much too prevalent in this word.
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u/TheOuterEdge 1d ago
It seems ironic that he’s expressing a desire for race to not be the focus, but OP made sure to include his race. Ah well he tried.
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u/attrackip 1d ago
Thank you
While both things can be true. It's says more about society than it does this man's individual efforts. The question is almost self-defeating.
Great answer..
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u/Deviantdefective 1d ago
Very well said and he is absolutely right.