Whitey on the Moon: Difference between revisions

"'''Whitey on the Moon'''" is a [[spoken word]] poem by [[Gil Scott-Heron]], released as the ninth track on his debut album ''[[Small Talk at 125th and Lenox]]'' in 1970. Accompanied by [[conga]] drums, Scott-Heron's narrative tells of [[medical debt]], high taxes and poverty experienced at the time of the [[List of Apollo missions#Manned Apollo missions|Apollo Moon landings]]. The poem critiques the resources spent on the space program while [[African Americans|Black Americans]] were experiencing social and economic disparities at home. "Whitey on the Moon" was prominently featured in the 2018 [[biographical film]] about [[Neil Armstrong]], ''[[First Man (film)|First Man]]'', and the second episode of HBO's television series ''[[Lovecraft Country (TV series)|Lovecraft Country]]''. It received renewed interest in 2021 following spaceflights by billionaires [[Jeff Bezos]] and [[Richard Branson]], which were seen as emblematic of the inequalityinequities highlighted by the poem.<ref name="Mitchell 2021">{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Taiyler Simone |title='Whitey on the Moon' poem garners social media attention on anniversary of moon landing, Bezos's spaceflight |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/whitey-on-the-moon-poem-resurfaces-amid-bezos-branson-spaceflight-2021-7 |access-date=December 30, 2021 |work=Business Insider |date=July 20, 2021 |archive-date=December 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230230155/https://www.businessinsider.com/whitey-on-the-moon-poem-resurfaces-amid-bezos-branson-spaceflight-2021-7 |url-status=live }}</ref>