Fly Me To The Moon? No Thank You

Did you watch the launching in space of  Richard Branson yesterday? I just read on  a Facebook page where this guy said he was angry about it and and he talked about why. I  can't say I'm angry about it but I do wonder why we care so much. 

These very rich men racing one another to be the first in space feels ridiculous and insensitive in light of all that's going on in the world. But what really stands out for me is that here we are, the struggling, barely making it or paying too much 99% cheering on the 1% who enjoy lavish, carefree lives at our expense. 

These people are insanely rich only because of their exploitation of us and we cheer them on. We can't afford housing, health care, insurance of all kinds, education, the infrastructure is falling, we are inundated with taxes and inexplicable service fees dreamt up by them and our government, poverty and world hunger are real and yet we are on the sidelines, glued to our boob tubes, cheering on these rich men and the games they enjoy through profits earned on our backs. Feels like a new plantation. I ain't cheering that Massah's happiness is more important or more relevant than my own... 

There is just something very wrong with all of this for me and nope, call me Scrooge, but I didn't watch one second of it! Instead, I hosted a very empowering When Black Women Gather Zoom call for Black Women with the brilliant Gloria Browne-Marshall, author, lawyer, playwright, radio talk show host, law professor, etc. Our souls and our minds were nourished. Our hearts were filled with the spirit of Sistah-hood. That's what I did. How bout' you? 

Footnote:

Someone just shared this video of the late and great  Gil Scott Heron from 1970,  performing  Whitey On The Moon. He so much more precisely critiqued the alarming indifference to poverty and real world struggles. Click here to check it out.