Playing Our Part in the Human Zoo

On the way down from the top of the Space Needle, the elevator ride gave us a great view down into the garden of the nearby Chihuly gallery and the splendid glass sculptures by the artist after whom the gallery is named.

We could also see into the large courtyard of the Pacific Science Center with its angular Sixties-era walkway over the fountain pool. On the far way of the courtyard was a large banner for the current exhibit of the museum. The exhibit was titled "RACE." We'd gotten a closeup look at the banner before we went up to the top of needle. The subtitle of the exhibit was that it would challenge our perspectives. As if to highlight this theme, the "R" of the word was printed backwards.

"Ah, the subject we are all supposed to be obsessed about," I said. "Somehow I doubt it will challenge most people's perspectives much at all."

Now in the elevator, looking down at the banner, It occurred to me that the backwards R in the banner was just like the parody of the Cyrillic alphabet that one often sees.

"Ah, it's a Commie exhibit," I joked to Red.

When we got down to ground, we meandered around the plaza enjoying the remainder of the day's beautiful sunlight. We sat in several locations by the monorail and the Space Needle to people watch. Many families were out enjoying the day with their children. The temperature was perfect.

"If they wanted to really make a point about race," I said, "they should have museum where once you get in, you are sorted into different lines based on your skin color or ethnic background. Then each partition goes through a completely different museum, with a message designed for that race."

Red thought that was a hilarious idea. We brainstormed about ways one could implement this in a useful and interesting manner. For example, if someone was in the Hispanic museum route, but their skin was too dark, they could be escorted to a door, and when they went through it, they would find themselves in the Black Race museum, and the door would not allow you to go back.

Then we discussed the history of the Space Needle and the original 1962 World's Fair.

"Did you know that at the 1904 World's Fair in Saint Louis there was a Human Zoo?"  I asked Red.

She was intrigued. "Really?"

"Yup. It had exhibits from cultures all over the world. It was partly designed to promote eugenics, or race hygeine, as people called it back then. It was a very popular subject with the elite of the day. One of the promoters in St. Louis was a prominent local banker, Bert Walker. He was essentially the point man in the Midwest for the Morgan establishment. Like many of them, was a big believer race hygeine."

"Walker---" I continued. "is the 'W' of Dubya. Bert Walker was his great-grandfather."