I was wrong . . . or was I?

The photo below is of my 1966 Mercedes dressed as a float in the 1969 Crispus Attucks Day Parade in Newark New Jersey. The signs on the float say, “TO THE MOON HELL . . . PEACE ON EARTH. NAACP”

(For those of you too young to know, this was an attempt to depict the space capsule used at the time.)

Today we are celebrating the 40^th anniversary of man’s landing on the moon.  Most people probably believed I, as the Director of NAACP in Newark, was wrong to call for peace on earth instead of joining in the grand euphoria of getting to the moon in 1969. The CBS Evening News of New York which was our market for TV featured this float as the probable indicator of sentiments of Newark’s poor. However in 2009, without doing the necessary empirical comparative research to show what would have happened if America had spent its space dollars to work and pay for peace on earth over the last forty years, it is hard to say if I was wrong or not. It is always hard to Monday morning quarterback the nations priorities of forty years ago. I do know that at the time we built this float and I chose this caption it was right after two years of rioting in urban America and it seemed very strange to hear the American leadership say that America could afford and expand  the space program but it could not afford better schools or safety on our streets. I was upset as were many others that the my nation seemed fixed on reaching the moon and beyond at all cost while saying it has no money for the struggling deteriorating cities like Newark New Jersey. Most American Cities at the time had a crumbling school system, a bad City owned heath care system, high unemployment especially for minorities, a very high crime rate, and a housing stock that was in a collapsing state of conditions.  It was like the suffering of people, especially Black and poor people, did not matter. Who knows what America would look like today if we had spent all of the dollars that were spent on space had been spent on improving the quality of life in America for all? Even now when I hear some Congressman especially the Republican say we cannot afford to reform health care when almost 50 million people are uninsured but we must spend billions to build jet planes that even the pentagon says we do not need or want.  Well, what’s new after forty years?

All of that aside, here we are in July 2009 as the space program is getting a new Director, General Charles Bolden.  I salute him as one of America’s finest. I love and respect him for his outstanding career. His father was my high school coach and physical Ed teacher. I wish him the best it goes without saying. Yet, I find it very strange that during his Senate Confirmation Hearings the Senators did not stress to him very much about reaching new horizons or planets in space to be explored. The Senators repeatedly urged General Bolden to use his best efforts to, “Rebuild public support for the space program.” After listening to bits and pieces of the Senate’s Confirmation Hearings and hearing the Senators whine and plea for public support of the space program, I have to wonder was I wrong in 1969 to urge America to spend our space dollars here on earth . . . or not? Have all or most Americans finally come to the same conclusion now that I did forty years ago? Is it time to say, “To the moon again hell . . . peace on earth.” You tell me, hit me back; At Dr. Jacob Jackson< spoonbooks1@aol.com.>

Click here for: More commentary    Return Home