The Manhattan Project Did Look Like America
12 of the lead researchers and 10-20 percent of the overall workforce was Black.
Michael Barone of the Washington Examiner wrote an opinion piece so false in premises that it needs no formal logic to show the flaw only a brief google search. He writes of the Manhattan project as some sort of a disproof of affirmative action and as an exemplar of who the best people for a job like atomic physics would be. The fact is that 10-20% of the overall workforce was Black to comply with labor equity laws that even existed at the federal level in the 1940’s and 12 of the lead scientist were Black, of which there were many more from just about every allied country including the Hungarian Jewish scientist he hillites who would’ve had to deal with incredible antisemitism and would not have been considered simply White by the standards of that time.
Edward Teller one such person and one of the two fathers of the hydrogen bomb tried to get jobs for the Black scientist who had worked with Enrico Fermi on Plutonium. J Earnest Wilkins PhD got his PhD in the 1940’s at age 19. He worked with Fermi at the university of Chicago and only stopped working on it as going to Oakridge TN would not have been safe for a Black man like him.
In short Mr. Barone built his argument on false information. He then continues to build on it is using reasoning that seems to be driven by stereotypes of not only Black people, but also of Jewish people. In doing so he proves the very thing he is trying to disprove.
Therefore, I do not bother with mainstream media anymore all the best thought and analysis is on YouTube. Even when I disagree with it. The little guys just cannot afford to be so incredibly wrong.
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