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What Will We After the Iraqi War?

 

 

"The Color Line and the War"

 

A Commentary by Amin Sharif

As I write this commentary on Roy Wilkins’ article, first published in the The Interracial Review (May 1943), I can not help but reflect on the status of African-Americans and other minorities in the Armed Forces now waiting the impending conflict with Saddam Hussein.  There can be no doubt that Wilkins’ article reflects the true conditions of “Negro” involvement in pre-war and wartime activities. And, as expected, Mr. Wilkins’ testimony is no more than a wartime postcard from another time explaining that--then as now--things were rough in the Black Community. What is rare about this article is that it is not simply a generalization of the conditions facing an African-American community ready and willing to give their lives again to “defend America.” This article contains specifics about the treatment of African-Americans during America’s entry and participation in the war. It is these specifics that paint a damning picture of race prejudice maintained not only at home but abroad.

Mr. Wilkins decries not merely the prejudice that was “taken along” by white soldiers overseas in an attempt to set up “Dixie practices” in places like England, Australia, and North Africa. This article talks about African-American soldiers being assaulted and killed not by Nazi Germans but by white Americans in places like Alexandria (Louisiana), Baltimore (Maryland), and “in an Arkansas town.”.

Today, of course, American troops of color face another problem. For, perhaps, the first time in American military and political history, these troops--our sons and daughters--are being asked to fight an uncertain war. Quick parallels will be made between this conflict and the War in Vietnam. And those parallels, in many ways, should be dismissed. The American public, including many prominent Black leaders, were early supporters of that war. It was only after the body bags began returning that the American public turned sour on the war. There is no such illusion connected to this War. It will be costly in manpower (human lives) as well as in dollars (our flagging economy). What is ironic is that these are the two commodities that America needs most and is readily willing to squander in a cause whose outcome is at best doubtful.

I mention these things not because I am a great supporter of Hussein. Hussein disgusts me. He was the one who declared war on Iran killing thousands of them with chemical and perhaps biological weapons. As a Muslim and a human being, I find his ability to make war in this most horrendous fashion appalling. I do, however, have concerns about what this war will do to the long suffering Iraqi people and the region. A hellfire will erupt if there are large numbers of human causalities and Americans, all, rightly or wrongly, will once again have become the “Great Satan” cursed by every Muslim from Egypt to Indonesia.

But most of all, I am deeply concerned by what effects this war will have on our sons and daughters. For all Americans, the actions taken in Iraqi will be placed upon their heads. What will they see when they are forced to kill--and they will kill--innocent Iraqis? Will they be able to live with themselves after they have killed to “defend America”?

After the Second World War, Black American soldiers returned home and demanded freedom and equal justice. The outgrowth of this demand was the modern Civil Rights Movement. After Vietnam, Black soldiers, again, returned asking for the same thing--freedom and justice--and the streets and cities of America became a temporary “war zone.” I can only wonder what will happen if Black American and other minority soldiers return home after an Iraqi war and a peace (?) expected to last some ten years. What will be their demands be and how will America after squandering so many human and material resources meet them? America better think about this? We all had better think about this and pray to God that we have not created a situation that will not swallow us whole. 

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update 2 July 2008

 

 

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