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1969-1972 Continuation of Racial Tensions

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1969-1972 Continuation of Racial Tensions

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The racial tensions in the ghettoes of Detroit and Chicago were now echoed in the armed forces. In July 1969, there was a race riot in Lejeune Marine Camp in North Carolina. Soon, the battlefield became a stage of conflict within the U.S ranks. Rebellion and mutiny amongst black soldiers began to occur. Also, in 1970, seven black soldiers from the 176th Regiment disobeyed orders to go on patrol duty, claiming their lives were being “deliberately endangered by racist officers”
Inter-racial clashes were commonplace in military prisons, army bases and even on aircraft carriers. In October 1972, a fight involving black and white sailors aboard the attack aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, in the Tonkin Gulf, left 33 men injured.
Groups such as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, encouraged violence against white racism at home and in Vietnam. Kathleen Cleaver the wife of Eldridge Cleaver.
In April, Eldridge Cleaver was involved in a shoot-out in Oakland between Black Panthers and police that left one Panther dead and Cleaver and two police officers wounded; and Democrat Bobby Kennedy (who had promised better civil rights for blacks and had promised an early end to the war) had been assassinated.
Personal interviews were conducted with 400 black enlisted men “from Con Thiem to the Delta” providing a measure of the attitude of black men in Vietnam:

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‘45% said they would use arms to gain their rights when they return to “the world.” A few boasted that they are smuggling automatic weapons back to the States.

60% agreed that black people should not fight in Vietnam because they have problems back home. Only 23% replied that blacks should fight in Vietnam the same as whites.

64% believed that racial troubles in Vietnam were getting worse. Only 6% thought that racial relations were improving. “Just like civilian life,” one black marine said. “The white doesn’t want to see the black get ahead.”
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56% said that they use the Black Power salute. Only 1% condemned its use
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55% preferred to eat their meals with blacks. 52% preferred to live in all-black barracks.

41% said they would join a riot when they returned to the U.S. However, a nearly equal number, 40%, said they would not.

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Civil Rights Movement of the Vietnam War

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Civil Rights Movement of the Vietnam War

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When the Vietnam War escalated and was wholeheartedly backed by the White House, President Johnson failed to realize the racial nightmare that American involvement in Vietnam would create. Vietnam coincided with the protests of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of Black Power during 1960s America. Whilst African-Americans were discriminated at home but also within the U.S. armed forces, the effects of black power, the impact of the Civil Rights struggle and “the resurgence of black sub-cultural style, expressed through dress, language and gesture”, had been transferred to the war zone.
Amidst increasing tension, black soldiers embraced Black Power: culturally and politically. Vietnam was America’s first racially integrated conflict. Black soldiers had fought in all of America’s previous military encounters, but in segregated units. However, a small number of segregated units still existed.
One million African-Americans had served in the Second World War and returned home imbued with the desire to possess the full rights of citizenship so long denied them. In previous wars also, African-Americans had fought not only for their emancipation but also for their firm belief in democracy. Protest groups were formed such as the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.). Subsequently, demonstrations, sit-ins and boycotts pressurized the authorities to integrate schools and public buildings.

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The Civil Rights Acts at home, in America, resulting in better employment and housing conditions for African-Americans put pressure on the forces to respond to the increasing crisis. General Chapman admitted in 1969, “we’ve got a problem.” Investigations on discrimination and prejudices were addressed in all areas, from the lack of suitable provisions for black servicemen to the small number of black officers. Mandatory Watch and Action Committees were introduced into each unit, using the slogan – “Racism can cost you your career.” Eventually, African-Americans won the right to grow their hair in Afros; and gradually racial tensions within the ranks began to subside. Colin Powell began his military career in Vietnams and rose through the ranks to become General as a blackman. Indeed, since Vietnam many African-Americans have been promoted to the highest ranks of the U.S Army.

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The national March on Washington in 1963, in which over 200,000 blacks and whites participated, amidst widespread media coverage, represented one of the most powerful protests in American history. Symbolically standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, King called for black Americans to be included in the American Dream.
The dream was that American Negroes were to be fully accepted and integrated into American society: that “little black boys” and “little white boys”. Soon would be able to go to school together. Subsequently, in1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed, bringing de Jure, or legal discrimination to a close; and, effectively barring discrimination in public places and employment. Consequently, the Voting Rights Act was soon passed, allowing African-Americans in the Southern states to register as voters. However, there were dissenting voices arguing that blacks had still achieved little economic justice. King himself warned: “millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies.”
As President Lyndon Johnson increased the focus of American foreign policy on the conflict in Vietnam, statistics soon presented stark evidence of racial discrimination. In 1965 there were 23,000 U.S. servicemen in Vietnam. By the end of 1967, the number rose dramatically to 465,000 – the result of Project 100,000, initiated by President Johnson in 1966. Qualification standards were lowered meaning that black Americans who had previously evaded the draft owing to poor education opportunities, were now eligible and so too, ironically, were racially intolerant, poor white men from the Southern States, 246,000 men were recruited between October 1966 and June 1969 – 41% were black, although black Americans represented only 11% of the U.S. population. 58,000 lost their lives in the conflict, 22% of which were black. Less than 3% of the officers in the Army were black, less than 1% in the Marines.

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After Martin Luther King’s assassination white soldiers applauded his murder. Racist graffiti, cross burnings and Ku Klux Klan material were tolerated on some bases. Young African-American recruits were confronted with the symbol most associated with historical racist oppression, the Confederate flag, daubed on army machinery including tanks, jeeps and even helicopters. Magazines such as Ebony or Jet were not stocked on some bases and neither were tapes of soul music or books on black American culture and history. Black servicemen were frequently sentenced to longer terms than their white counterparts, and once inside prison. Black soldiers embraced their African cultural roots by wearing black beads and black gloves and flew the Black flag. A ritualized handshake, the “dap”, was common amongst black personnel. Black Power salutes were also used in private between black privates and officers. Despite or because of segregated bars and clubs, solidarity increased between black soldiers. Several groups were formed: Blacks in Action, The Unsatisfied Black Soldier, The Ju Jus, and The Mau Mau’s. they discussed black history, the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power and soul music. Black soldiers began to identify with the enemy: they saw the Vietnamese as, like themselves, victims of white colonial racist aggression. They were encouraged by anti-war demonstrations at home. White and black students, representing the Student Non-Violent Co-coordinating Committee, regularly organized marches and disruptive sit-ins.

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Participation in the Vietnam War without doubt heightened black consciousness, and help politicize every black American as a result of their being made “clearly aware of the paradox of fighting for democracy abroad when they did not have it at home.”

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The racial tensions in the ghettoes of Detroit and Chicago were now echoed in the armed forces. In July 1969, there was a race riot in Lejeune Marine Camp in North Carolina. Soon, the battlefield became a stage of conflict within the U.S ranks. Rebellion and mutiny amongst black soldiers began to occur. Also, in 1970, seven black soldiers from the 176th Regiment disobeyed orders to go on patrol duty, claiming their lives were being “deliberately endangered by racist officers”
Inter-racial clashes were commonplace in military prisons, army bases and even on aircraft carriers. In October 1972, a fight involving black and white sailors aboard the attack aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, in the Tonkin Gulf, left 33 men injured.
Groups such as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, encouraged violence against white racism at home and in Vietnam. Kathleen Cleaver the wife of Eldridge Cleaver.