大象传媒

After Jeff Bezos returned from his 10-minute space flight in late July, there was a  during his post-flight news conference when the crowd seemed to realize just how fucked up it all was. Bezos singled out Amazon鈥檚 customers and staff, saying 鈥測ou guys paid for all this.鈥� Realizing the gravitas of that casual statement, the audience emitted some pained laughter while the hostess looked around awkwardly, waiting for the moment to subside. It reminded me of what Gil Scott-Heron, the 鈥溾�� said in his 1970 poem 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Those watching Bezos might have realized just what it meant when the world鈥檚 richest man said that the public paid for the lavish goods he enjoys, especially seeing as  to the goods that the public enjoys. Maybe at a time when a raging pandemic has , people don鈥檛 want to hear how much they contributed to the wealth of a man whose net worth jumped by  over the past 13 months, while  Americans lost their jobs in the first three quarters of 2020. 

There is no denying the connections between wealth inequality, climate change, and racial inequality, and there鈥檚 no denying Amazon鈥檚 complicity in all three.

It could also be that at a time when the  are beginning to be felt, people don鈥檛 want to hear much from a man who has rained down  onto the Earth via his space joyride, and whose company has released as many greenhouse gases as a . Amazon in and of itself  through its championing of , , and 鈥攁ll while , ,  and .  There is no denying the connections between , , and there鈥檚 no denying Amazon鈥檚 complicity in all three.

Bezos seems to have realized that public opinion is souring. Not only has he announced a  contribution to fighting climate change, but he also took the time after his space flight to announce  of $100 million鈥攑ocket change for him鈥攖o various causes tied to an initiative he is calling the 鈥渃ourage and civility awards,鈥� a thinly veiled attempt at public relations. The reality is that Jeff Bezos and Amazon are so entangled in a system of perpetuating inequality that no individual contribution can unwind the systemic oppression that makes such gross displays of wealth inequality possible. 

I am not slighting Bezos for his contributions, but I was all too aware of the inequality he perpetuates for me to see his space flight and donations and react with anything other than disgust. Bezos鈥� ugly display embodied Scott-Heron鈥檚 words, 鈥淲as all that money I made las鈥� year  (for Whitey on the moon?) How come there ain’t no money here?  (Hm! Whitey’s on the moon).

The poem was a scathing critique of the  and earlier space race, an act of geopolitical showboating between the U.S. and USSR whose resources Scott-Heron felt would have been better invested in fighting poverty. 

I believe that Scott-Heron used the word 鈥淲hitey鈥� without racist intent. He was reflecting on the overlapping of racial identity and privilege in the U.S. In his eyes, the crowning achievement of the U.S. at that time solely benefited the White majority who stood to gain from the increasing prestige and privilege of landing a man on the moon. Scott-Heron, his sister, and the rest of Black America were not considered to have shared in any noticeable achievement as they continued to languish in racialized poverty. 

Maybe if we get our act together here on Earth, we won鈥檛 be in such a hurry to leave. 

Scott-Heron鈥檚 observations remain timely today, as do his solutions. As he urged his (presumably White) landlord to contact his fellow 鈥淲hiteys鈥� to pay rent on his behalf, so too do I urge the (mostly White) American political system to make Jeff Bezos  in taxes into the public treasury. Theof the self-made billionaire is eroded by the billions of dollars Bezos鈥� company receives in taxpayer subsidy, which only serve to  and should be revoked.

We cannot rely on Bezos鈥� self-serving charitable whims to fight climate change and racial inequality, nor can we allow him to amass so much wealth without taxation that he can squander it on more lavish displays of excess. 

Systemic racism and its myriad manifestations are a difficult beast to wrangle, and the idea of significantly tackling such an issue with charitable donations from billionaires like Bezos is folly.  is hot air, especially given its history of , , and , all of which contribute to a perception by former employees that the company is  to tackling its own problems, let alone those of the wider society. 

础尘补锄辞苍鈥檚&苍产蝉辫; at its majority Black fulfilment center in Bessemer, Alabama, is a perfect example of systemic racism. Its  on the threats that racial diversity poses to its model undermine any racial justice claims made by Bezos. If he really wanted to make a difference, he could start by , , and . 

Ultimately the work of  can never truly be accomplished by a company that . These are systemic problems, and they require systemic solutions. Bezos hopped off a rocket and made a fickle commitment to solve some nebulous issues, but to actually get shit done requires direct government intervention into how Amazon and other big businesses operate. 

Systemic racism can be addressed only by government action against the double disadvantage of, through the promotion of worker rights, anti-union busting legislation, and universal health care. Such solutions would remove the patronizing, dependent relationship that abusive bosses like Bezos have had over their employees by allowing them increased self-determination, by endowing them with more options, and by widening the social safety net. 

The dependency of so many climate justice efforts on the charity of individual donors could be reduced by reworking the tax code to tax Bezos and his ilk their fair share. The more than that goes unpaid each year because of tax evasion would be better served combating climate change, and there is no doubt that what would be left over would be more than enough to facilitate all the trips to space that the ultra-rich could ever desire. As for shifting the overall global economy away from the  that outsourcing and tax cuts have created, the  rate is a step in the right direction that should be accompanied by actions to  and a .

Forty-six years later, the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest returned to Scott-Heron鈥檚 subject matter, declaring that 鈥淭here ain鈥檛 a space program for niggas.鈥� There wasn鈥檛 one in 1969 or 2016, and it doesn鈥檛 seem like there will be one anytime soon. Maybe if we get our act together here on Earth, we won鈥檛 be in such a hurry to leave.