by Russ McSpadden
One Small Step for Man, One Giant Sh*t for the Moon?
On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of the Apollo 11 space mission touched down on the lunar surface. It was a pretty big deal to many and cost some $20 billion bucks. You know, “”one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” as Armstrong put it.
But just a year later, in his spoken-word piece “Whitey On the Moon”, the hard biting and rebellious poet and songwriter, Gil Scott Heron, asked some pretty poignant questions about race, poverty and technology in the U.S. ” Was all that money I made last year(for Whitey on the moon?) / How come there ain’t no money here?(Hmm! Whitey’s on the moon).
In the face of the dire poverty and racism that affected (and continues to affect) black communities, an expensive trip to the moon for two hillbillies might’ve certainly given one pause as to who was excluded in that “giant leap for mankind.”
But it gets worse.
As it turns out, probably unbeknownst to our revolutionary poet, whitey also left behind a few gifts on the moon before hightailing it home: some wrenches, batteries, a pair of lunar boots, old food containers and, well, according to NASA documents, they left their shit.
For millenia, poets and dreamers have pondered in awe, the beauty, mystery, and meaning of the moon and in 1969, two men finally voyaged the 230-some-thousand miles to visit it, to touch and study it, and then they took a crap on it.
Check out this video to get the down and dirty on the shit that was left behind.
And most importantly, please check out Gil Scot Heron’s “Whitey On the Moon” below: