Black (woman) and blue (Origin)

By M. Walter

On Saturday, May 31, The Washington Post published an interview conducted by Elizabeth Dwoskin, entitled “A rocket scientist wrestles with backlash over her Blue Origin flight,” and subtitled “Former NASA aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe always dreamed of going to space. She never imagined realizing that dream would let loose a barrage of online hate.”

It begins:

In early April, I was looking at a beautiful Elle magazine spread featuring the six women who were set to crew the all-female Blue Origin flight into space. There was Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Gayle King — and then my jaw dropped. There was my friend Aisha Bowe, surrounded by celebrities.

Bowe and I have known each other for nearly a decade. She’s a former NASA aerospace engineer and an entrepreneur. I always knew it was her dream to go to space.

Ms. Doskin figured her friend was slammed with all the publicity, so she waited a bit to text her. When she finally did, she asked her “if she was still basking in the glow,” then writes she “was stunned by her response.” Ms. Bowe, a deeply impressive woman who happens to be black, had been the recipient of a gusher of left-wing hatred. Why? Because Blue Origin is a Jeff Bezos project, and Jeff Bezos had recently been in Trump’s orbit (pardon the pun).

[H]er flight became a flash point for a torrent of anger from the political left and from communities of color directed at billionaires associated with the Trump administration. That includes Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who owns Blue Origin, and who sat in a crowd of tech moguls at the inauguration after making a large donation through Amazon.

Disgraceful. Not just because it’s appalling all on its own, but because Ms. Bowe should be held up as an example of black achievement, not black “sellout.” Heck, she should be held up as an example period. She grew up in modest circumstances and earned the money to take the flight all on her own. Not only did she earn it on her own, but she also set out to do it in a way others could model, paying it forward. Like I said earlier: a deeply impressive woman!

So here we have this incredibly smart, accomplished, decent human being, who achieved a life dream, to fly in space, and she gets a torrent of hate...from the “tolerance” people.

What a shame.

We joke that things aren’t rocket science, yet here we have an actual rocket scientist doing something truly amazing, not only with this flight, but with her entire life, which began reading science fiction novels and dreaming big dreams.

“It wasn’t until I was in community college that I actually decided that space might be a possibility. And it wasn’t because I thought it was a probability, it was me defying the odds. I think that sometimes dreams can be a radical form of protest. And my dream was that I wanted to overcome the circumstances that I was in. I decided that the only thing I could control were my dreams. And my dream was that I would go to space.”

I’ll let Ms. Bowe have the last word. Incredible grace here when asked about her reaction to all the invective:

“I welcome the conversation and I think it’s important to discuss what’s happening in the country today. The question that I would ask is, do we opt out because the system is flawed or do we do the work to change it for the better from the inside? I’ve never had the luxury of being in an ideal situation. I’m one of very few women who work in aerospace, who work in tech. I work in defense. And what I’ve always thought would be best is for me to be an example of what it is that I hope to see. I’ve never had the luxury of waiting for perfection.”