An Issue Of Race

Published Jan. 12, 2009 at 11:38 p.m.

This announcement came over the West Hartford Listserv today:

Top African-American Scientist Visits The Children’s Museum for Martin Luther King Jr. Day Physicist and Author Dr. Ronald Mallett Will Speak to Students and Families

Ronald L. Mallett, Ph.D., Professor of Physics at the University of Connecticut and author of Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality, will speak at The Children’s Museum in West Hartford on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm. One of America's first African-American Ph.D.’s in theoretical physics, Dr. Mallett will discuss his life and Time Traveler, an account of his childhood and what inspired him to discover the basic equations for a working time machine. Time Traveler is being made into a movie by Spike Lee.

The announcement goes on with some words from The Children's Museum CEO, Kevin Sullivan, and other details of the program.

In this day and age when we are all striving to be "color-blind" why is it that we continually reinforce labels of race? Why isn't Dr. Mallett simply recognized as being a pre-eminent physicist or scientist? Why does he have to be showcased as the "African American" for Dr. King's remembrance?

Dr. King's dream was such that no man is judged by the color of his skin and no man should be seen for just the color of his skin. Perhaps Dr. King would have liked it much better for the celebration of him and his dream for The Children's Museum to present "an accomplished Scientist" instead of specifically an "African American" one.

There is no mention of his religion or his height or age. He could very well be an African American Buddhist Vertically Challenged Senior Citizen...Of course that is silly. But honestly do we need the labels for anything other than this man's wonderful accomplishments?

To rid ourselves of racism, and any other "isms", we surely must dispose of the labels which perpetuate differences.

Just something to think about as we remember Dr. King.


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