Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio
White people can finally relax.
Unlike noted antisemite and acclaimed astrophysicist Marjorie Taylor Greene, I can’t tell an interstellar spacecraft from a Jewish space laser. But when President Joe Biden assured the country that the alien spaceships/spy balloons thangs hovering over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron were not part of an alien invasion, most people took him at his word.
“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were,” Biden said on Thursday. “But nothing — nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from other — any other country.” People who think “Big Bang Theory” is actually funny breathed a sigh of relief when they found out that China wasn’t spying on us or that E.T. wasn’t coming to pick up his cousin Ted Cruz. But Biden’s next sentence struck fear in the heart of people of rhythmic descent:
“The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” said Biden. “We know that a range of entities, including countries, companies and research organizations operate objects at altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious, including legitimate scientific research.”
That’s when I panicked
People of African descent remember that the transatlantic slave trade began when Portuguese trade wind “researchers” Nuno Tristão and Antao Gonçalves pulled up in 1441 and asked an Amazigh fisherman to “take me to your leader.” The Taino will never forget that Christopher Columbus was conducting “scientific research” in 1492 for “other countries” seeking a path to the…
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