Discussion » Questions » Life and Society » https://www.mysticstamp.com/info/this-day-in-history-march-19-1941/
Nyse Elias

https://www.mysticstamp.com/info/this-day-in-history-march-19-1941/

Explain to me the sense in this extract of the above:

q:  'In 2007, the group was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal for the part they played in the war and overcoming prejudice.'

Does this mean the American Government, on behalf of itself and the American people, have honored the Tuskegee Airmen for withstanding the virulent prejudice vented upon them by the American government itself, and the American people in general?

Doesn't that seem a little mealy-mouthed to you?

It sounds to me a bit like under-the-table self-congratulation by someone because they no longer beat their dogs.

As a corollary to this, and to fully make amends, wouldn't the American government (and people), having acknowledged the deplorable injustice of their attitude and actions, also have to properly censure themselves for this egregious treatment of black Americans? Can we expect to see that happening anytime soon?

Or could would that be a bridge too far; never allowed to happen because too many important and influential Americans and voters wouldn't stand for it, because they might look bad, or would at least have their noses put out of joint, or because it would just draw attention to the fact it never really stopped?

Maybe this kind of thinking only makes sense in a land where never is heard a discouraging word (just the echo of the crack of the whip on a slaves back) and the skies are not cloudy all day (except when rainfall is required to end an interminable drought, or wash away whole streets in frightful torrents of muddy water, cars, trees, pets and miscellaneous debris), but where everyone is free and everyone is equal.

Posted - March 20, 2018
Tags : None

Responses


  • 5354
    It should, and it cannot, do that.

    By allowing the formation of the Tuskegee airmen the government did assist the group to overcome a lot of prejudice (though not enough, there seems to be a whole lot left). The group earned that medal, even though it never should have been something that needed to be earned.

    So instead of thinking vengeance or punishment, think of how things can be improved the rest of the way.
      March 20, 2018 11:32 AM MDT
    0

  • 343
    Yes, it IS hypocritical, not to mention silly, of the US government to make any award to black flyers for overcoming its own  refusal of them flying in the war, simply on grounds of their having black skins (unless it was something more - anyone?). But black persistence overcame the prejudice in the end didn't it.
    It seems never to have been a case of black pilots in general being inadequate to the task, but merely the fact of their being black that incurred government resistance to the idea. It may have been exigencies of war that prevailed in the end, the pool of well-trained black pilots being too vital to the war effort to ignore, and not the hoped-for late-arriving realization that, after all, blacks were just as good as whites and could do any job just as well as whites.
    American blind prejudice against black servicemen raised its ugly head time and again during the war with US forces based in England. I understand that insistence by some US personnel that black servicemen should not be allowed to drink at the same bar as white Americans met with short shrift.
    So yes, the US government rewarding black flyers for refusing to be cowed by their own prejudice is something that only makes sense in America. But you may expect Good Old American BS to explain it away quite convincingly. 
           
      March 20, 2018 12:51 PM MDT
    1

  • 5354
    The main problem, as I see it, was that traditionally pilots are not just soldiers, but officers, High-class soldiers, not just grunts. As pilots they become very visible in the war reporting, and impossible to just ignore.
      March 21, 2018 2:47 AM MDT
    0