Senators complain that NASA is no longer allowed to be racist

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Are they serious?Space Race

Gone are the good old days of homophobia and racism at NASA and for some senators that is a problem.

During a budget hearing this week, two Republicans on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee criticized NASA’s efforts to both fight climate change and increase diversity, equity and inclusion. (DEI), describing the initiatives as “woke”.

As Space Policy Online breaks it down, senators, former presidential hopeful Ted Cruz of Texas and Eric Schmitt of Missouri, both high-profile members of the committee, spoke in broad and supportive terms to Fox News when they denounced the DEI and NASA environmental proposals.

For his part, Schmitt trashed “the agency’s obsession with misguided woke policies related to climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion.” radical policy that found its way into this budget.”

“If NASA is seen as partisan, it’s very bad for space and space exploration,” Cruz added. “So I hope NASA will continue its tradition of staying out of these battles.”

SIN Rewards

As Futurism and other outlets have reported, the US space agency has long been a white boys’ club. During the race to the moon in the 1960s, he had the opportunity to select a very accomplished black astronaut for the Apollo program, but ultimately did not. And while the contributions of many black women as mathematicians during the agency’s formative years were well documented in the 2016 book “Hidden Figures,” it took decades for their efforts to be recognized.

Progress has been made, but the agency has never had a female director and only had one black man at its helm. It took until last year for a black woman to become a crew member of the International Space Station.

So, contrary to Cruz and Schmitt’s demagogy, it’s clear that DEI is still very much needed at NASA. And it goes without saying that the climate is not a partisan issue either.

Furthermore, anyone familiar with current right-wing rhetoric knows that “woke” has become something of a catch-all code word for progressive ideals and efforts against bigotry. From attempts to use more inclusive language in reproductive health care to debates about the safety barriers of artificial intelligence, fear of a “woke” planet has caused much of the country to literally froth at mouth and languishes for the days when there were no consequences for being a bigot and that perspective, it seems, has made its way to lawmakers overseeing NASA.

At the end of the line ? Instead of worrying about the very real way racism hurts America financially, Cruz and Schmitt instead invoke the “woke” boogeyman to score political points and frankly, it’s pretty embarrassing to witness.

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