Racial politics is so sinister to our collective memories. No matter what you do, who you are, what you accomplished, or what your effect on the future of the human race is, all of it can be minimized or even destroyed in the minds of many because of your skin color or comments you made about other races.
What's more, it's not accidental. The erasure of someone's entire personage to make them into an icon or a villain (depending on how useful doing so would be) is an intentional act.
Look at the treatment of our founding fathers. All they accomplished, what they gave birth to, the absolute miracle they managed to pull off, are all waved away by the hands of ideologues as they're boiled down to the fact that some of them owned slaves. Never mind the nuanced opinions they had on the matter. Never mind that George Washington literally set his free. Never mind that they intentionally set up our system so that slavery eventually dies. They owned them, and that's all you need to know.
But it works both ways. If you accomplish something grand and you're black, then get ready for that to be the only thing about you in the eyes of our media, too many scholars, and the ideologically left.
Case in point, Victor Glover, the pilot of the Artemis II mission, was asked by a reported "What does it mean to you to be the first black man to visit the moon?
Glover was being very polite, but you could tell this was hardly something he considered important. He says it's nice that these "firsts" allow for people who connect with them, thanks to their identities, to have inspiration, but he made it clear that the more important aspect here is that this isn't about one race or gender, but about humanity.
"This is the story of humanity," said Glover, "not black history, not women's history, but that it becomes human history."
NASA pilot Victor Glover CLAPS back after being asked what it means to be the first black man to visit the moon: “It’s the story of humanity, not black history, not women’s history, but that it becomes human history.”
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) April 2, 2026
“I also HOPE we are pushing the other direction that one day… pic.twitter.com/0ctJfiWVRE
To be clear, Glover is no DEI hire. His identity had nothing to do with his being selected for this mission.
He's a seasoned U.S. Navy combat pilot, has experience living on the ISS, and, what's more, is a family man and a man of Christian faith.
The number of things this man has accomplished could dwarf many others. He's one of those people who earned his way into being at the forefront of history. His name will be written into history books until the end of time. We are literally witnessing a historical figure doing something that will be discussed by people for generations.
Yet the only thing the left cares about is the fact that his skin color can be used for socio-political reasons. If you were to ask the media, that's the only thing about him that matters. The New York Times, NBC, Los Angeles Times, Sky News, and even Space.com all made their discussion about Glover revolve around his skin color.
To be clear, it's fine to acknowledge that he's the first black man. It is a fact, and it's cool to throw that fact in there, but that's hardly the most impressive thing about him.
If I were Glover, I probably would be annoyed to the point of anger. I studied my butt off, trained relentlessly, navigated bureaucracies, competed with other top-level pilots, put myself in very real danger to fly combat missions, learned how to live in zero-G environments, and all while creating and maintaining a large, healthy, happy family.
But I'm black, so all that I am is nothing compared to my skin color.
I'm with Glover on this entire issue all the way. This isn't a specific identity's accomplishment. What Glover is doing isn't just something he did; it took a bunch of people to get together and achieve incredible things to get to this point. Glover isn't the first black man in space; he won't be the last, and if we focus on every "first" on identity, then the entire thing is cheapened.
This is real frontier work happening here. The height of science and engineering. The result of humans pushing our minds and our bravery to the limit and past it.
Does identity politics really matter in the grand scheme?
From where I'm sitting, identity continues to be the least interesting thing in even minor accomplishments.
