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"Whitey on the Moon" became exceptionally popular among African-Americans in [[inner city]] neighborhoods in New York, [[Detroit]], and [[Los Angeles]].<ref name="Maher 2017">{{cite book |last1=Maher |first1=Neil M. |title=Apollo in the Age of Aquarius |date=2007 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674971998 |pages=28–30}}</ref> While the album, described by ''[[AllMusic]]'' as a "volcanic upheaval of intellectualism and social critique", did not receive much airtime, it received considerable attention in Black and progressive neighborhoods across the US.<ref name="Baram 2014" /> Its criticism of the [[Space Race]] was broadly similar to that featured by the Black-owned print media, but drew far greater attention among that community.<ref name="Maher 2017"/> It featured thematic commonalities with [[Marvin Gaye]]'s 1971 song "[[Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)]]", and [[Faith Ringgold]]'s 1969 painting titled "Flag for the Moon: Die N****r".<ref name="Loyd 2015" /> The poem's popularity was described as evidence of growing awareness of the struggles of [[urban blight]] in the US.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maher |first1=Neil M. |title=Grounding the Space Race |journal=Modern American History |date=2018 |volume=1 |pages=141–146 |doi=10.1017/mah.2017.4|s2cid=135115637 }}</ref> The album it was on also became popular: it did not [[Record chart|chart]], but earned enough to support a second album.<ref name="Baram 2014"/>
"Whitey on the Moon" is described as exemplifying [[afrofuturism]], or "Black social thought concerning 'culture, technology, and things to come'."<ref name="Loyd 2015" /> Scott-Heron saw the Apollo landings as exemplifying racial disparities in the US.<ref name="Chaikin 2007">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Chaikin |first1=Andrew |editor1-last=Dick |editor1-first=Steven J. |title=Live from the moon: The societal impact of Apollo |encyclopedia = Societal Impact of Spaceflight| date=2007 |publisher=Government Printing Office |author-link = Andrew Chaikin|isbn=9780160867170}}</ref> The poem critiques the US space program by connecting its use of government funds to the marginalization of [[African Americans|Black Americans]].<ref name="Loyd 2015" /> The poem
Scott-Heron's handling of difficult material with dark humour has been praised by commentators.<ref name="Taylor 2021">{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Tom |title=Six definitive songs: The ultimate beginner's guide to Gil Scott-Heron |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/gil-scott-heron-guide-six-best-songs/ |website=Far Out |date=May 12, 2021 |access-date=December 30, 2021 |archive-date=December 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230225503/https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/gil-scott-heron-guide-six-best-songs/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Lavin 2021">{{cite news |last1=Lavin |first1=Talia |title=Jeff Bezos' live Blue Origin space launch is the pinnacle of waste |url=https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/jeff-bezos-space-launch-pinnacle-billionaire-waste-n1274392 |access-date=December 30, 2021 |work=MSNBC |date=July 20, 2021 |archive-date=December 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230054449/https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/jeff-bezos-space-launch-pinnacle-billionaire-waste-n1274392 |url-status=live }}</ref> Writing for ''[[The Atlantic]]'' after Scott-Heron's death in 2011, Alexis Madrigal stated that "Whitey on the Moon" had taken [[spaceflight]] out of the "abstract, universal realm in which we like to place our technical achievements". Madrigal added that the poem raised questions about "which America" got the "glory of the moon landing", and of what the costs of putting "whitey on the moon" were.<ref name="Madrigal 2011">{{cite news|title=Gil Scott-Heron's Poem, 'Whitey on the Moon'|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/gil-scott-herons-poem-whitey-on-the-moon/239622/|first=Alexis C.|last=Madrigal|work=The Atlantic|date=May 28, 2011|accessdate=June 4, 2020|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216114355/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/gil-scott-herons-poem-whitey-on-the-moon/239622/|url-status=live}}</ref> A 2014 biography of Scott-Heron described "Whitey on the Moon" as a "gem of a prose poem" that was well-received critically, and that it was "devastating in its harsh counterpoint" to adulatory coverage of the Moon landings.<ref name="Baram 2014"/> Also writing in 2021, [[MSNBC]] columnist Talia Lavin stated that the poem "memorialized, in sardonic fashion, the saccharine patriotism that had arisen around Apollo 11".<ref name="Lavin 2021"/> Also in 2021, a review of Scott-Heron's work commented: "Rarely has a point been made so forcefully while artfully avoiding the full brutal bludgeon of the nose."<ref name="Taylor 2021"/>
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