Declassefied Discrimination
Posted on Military.com's forum, this declassified 1942 document from the Chairman of the General Board W.R. Sexton to the Secretary of the Navy is a 'tell-all' of just how discriminatory our country was and in some ways still is.
Excerpts:
On Negroes being enlisted.
"How many white men would choose, of their own accord, that their closest associates...be of another race? How many would accept such conditions, if required to do so, without resentment and just as a matter of course? The General Board believes that the answer is "Few, if any," and further believes that if the issue were forced, there would be a lowering of contentment, teamwork and discipline in the service."
Wait. Haven't we heard this same argument recently?
It goes on.
"One of the tenets of the recruiting service is that each recruit for general service is potentially a leading Petty Officer." And get this. "If Negroes are recruited for general service, it can be said at once that few will obtain advancement to petty officer." And that officers in general "will not recommend Negroes for promotion to positions of authority over white men."
If you continue to read it, it will only make you angry that we were ever that evil to one group of people. But has anything really changed? The Chairman goes on to say that it is much more important "that we have the full-hearted cooperation of the thirty million white southern Americans than that we satisfy the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."
We hear discrimination along these same lines against 65,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members that are serving today, which is an extremely low underestimate. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace said in March that homosexuality is “immoral” and that he supports Don’t Ask Don’t Tell because “we should not condone immoral acts.” In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Pace also compared homosexuality to adultery, claiming that the military should “not tolerate” homosexuality just as it rejects “military members who sleep with other military members’ wives.”
The same underlying reason-discrimination-is used against groups of people that long only to serve the country they believe in, to protect the freedoms they live by, and to hold on to that glimmer of a great nation.
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09-25-07
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