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"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 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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Roy Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8,
1981) was a prominent civil rights activist in the
United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins'
most notable role was in his leadership of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP).
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Wilkins graduated from
the
University of Minnesota with a degree in
sociology in 1923. He worked as a journalist at
The Minnesota Daily and became editor of St.
Paul Appeal, an African-American newspaper. After he
graduated he became the editor of the
The Call (Kansas City). In 1929, he married
social worker Aminda "Minnie" Badeau; the couple had
no children.
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Between 1931 and 1934, Wilkins was
assistant NAACP secretary under
Walter Francis White. When
W. E. B. Du Bois left the
organization in 1934, he replaced him as
editor of
The Crisis, the official magazine of
the
NAACP. From 1949–50 Wilkins chaired
the National Emergency Civil Rights
Mobilization, which comprised more than
100 local and national groups. In 1950,
Wilkins—along with
A. Philip Randolph, founder of the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,
and
Arnold Aronson, a leader of the
National Jewish Community Relations
Advisory Council—founded the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
(LCCR). LCCR has become the premier
civil rights coalition, and has
coordinated the national legislative
campaign on behalf of every major civil
rights law since 1957.
In 1955, Roy Wilkins was
chosen to be the executive secretary of the NAACP and in 1964 he
became its executive director. He had an excellent reputation as
an articulate spokesperson for the civil rights movement. One of
his first actions was to provide support to civil rights
activists in Mississippi who were being subject to a "credit
squeeze" by members of the
White Citizens Councils.
Wilkins backed a proposal suggested by
Dr.
T.R.M. Howard of
Mound Bayou, Mississippi, who headed
the
Regional Council of Negro Leadership,
a leading civil rights organization in
the state.
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Under the plan, black businesses and voluntary
associations shifted their accounts to the
black-owned Tri-State Bank of Memphis, Tennessee. By
the end of 1955, about $280,000 had been deposited
in Tri-State for this purpose.
The money enabled Tri-State to extend loans to
credit-worthy blacks who were denied loans by white
banks. Wilkins participated in the
March on Washington (August 1963) which he
helped organize, the
Selma to Montgomery marches (1965), and the
March Against Fear (1966). . . .
In 1951,
J. Edgar Hoover and the state department, in
collusion with the
NAACP and Wilkins (then editor of
The Crisis, the official magazine of the
NAACP), arranged for a ghost-written leaflet to be
printed and distributed in Africa. The purpose of
the leaflet was to spread negative press and views
about the Black political radical and entertainer
Paul Robeson throughout Africa. . . .
Gil Scott-Heron mentioned Wilkins in his most famous spoken
word song "The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised" with this lyric: "There
will be no slow motion or still life of Roy Wilkins strolling
through Watts in a red, black and green liberation jumpsuit that
he has been saving for just the proper occasion."
Source:
Wikipedia
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Standing Fast: The Autobiography of Roy
Wilkins
By Roy Wilkins and Tom Mathews
History will remember Roy Wilkins
(1901–1981) as one of the great leaders
of the twentieth century for his
contributions to the advancement of
civil rights in America. For nearly half
a century—first as assistant secretary,
also succeeding W. E. B. Dubois as
editor of The Crisis, and finally
succeeding Walter White as executive
director—Roy Wilkins served and led the
NAACP
in their fight for justice for African
Americans. Wilkins was a relentless
pragmatist who advocated progressive
change through legal action.
He
participated or led in the achievement
of every major civil rights advance,
working for the integration of the army,
helping to plan and organize the
historic march on Washington, and
pushing every president from Franklin
Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter to implement
civil rights legislation. This is a
dramatic story of one man's struggle for
his people's rights, as well as a vivid
recollection of the events and the
people that have shaped modern black
history.—Da
Capo Press |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
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____ 2005
Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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update 2 July 2008
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