I recently read about the passing of the last surviving member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a segregated group of Black Air Force fighter pilots who were critical to victory for Allied forces during World War II.
It made me think about how much Black military veterans have given to this country and what they have received for their service.
George Hardy was 100 years old when he passed. The passion to serve his country moved him to enlist and he became the youngest Tuskegee fighter pilot at age 19. He ultimately reached the rank of Lt. Colonel.
Hardy flew 21 missions over Germany during World War II. He also served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. I call that love for country.
The Airmen came to being because of the “Tuskegee Experiment”—not to be confused with the Tuskegee Untreated Syphilis Study conducted by the U.S. Government from 1932-1972, where Black men with the venereal disease, including veterans, were allowed to go intentionally untreated while treatment was available.
The Air Force Experiment was conducted to determine if Black men could demonstrate skills worthy of the Air Force. Black pilots and soldiers proved themselves in U.S. wars only to receive discrimination and even death for their service after returning home.
For example, Charles Lewis left his base at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio, in December 1918 after being honorably discharged following World War I. A day later, his body, still in uniform, was hanging in Hickman, Ky. His crime? Arguing with the local White sheriff after being accused of a robbery. He was on board a train about to head to his Alabama home. A mob of White men broke him out of jail and hung him.
Maceo Snipes, honorably discharged from the Army in 1943, went home to Butler, Georgia, to resume life on his family’s farm harvesting cotton, peanuts and corn. On July 17, 1946, he became the first and only Black person in the state to vote in that Democratic primary for governor.
The next day, he was shot by White men driving by his house in a truck and later died from his wound. He could fight for his country but not vote for representation.
Samuel Younge Jr. lost a kidney while serving in the U.S. Navy. On Jan. 3, 1967, the 21-year-old Black Tuskegee Institute student was killed at a gas station in Macon County, Alabama, for using a “Whites Only” bathroom.
In a shooting ruled “justified,” six Rochester, N.Y., police officers confronted an unarmed Roland T. Price outside a bar. Price had gotten into an argument with the White bartender.
Evidence showed that the military veteran and Purple Heart recipient for sacrifice did not resist an officer’s commands outside the bar. He was wearing his award and military uniform when police shot him multiple times. Officers were not charged.
Sixty-six-year-old former Marine and corrections officer Kenneth Chamberlain suffered from bipolar disorder, arthritis and respiratory illness. On November 11, 2011, he accidentally triggered his LifeAid medical alert.
Causing a response from White Plains, N.Y., police officers, firemen and medical personnel. Police knocked on his door, asking him to come outside. The senior citizen explained he accidentally triggered the alarm and would not exit his home.
Officers then banged on his door to break it down and entered the apartment. While banging on the door, one officer called Chamberlain a “nigger,” according to a Democracy Now broadcast.
Police allege Chamberlain came at them with a knife, which the family disputes. Chamberlain was tased and shot with four beanbags from a shotgun. A camera on the taser gun recorded the tasing, but “malfunctioned” during the fatal shooting of a live round from one of the officers.
Walter Scott, 50, a retired Coast Guard vet, was fatally shot by a White North Charleston, S.C., police officer on April 4, 2015. Scott was stopped for a non-functioning brake light. He was running away when the officer shot several rounds. Video of the incident contradicted the officer’s official report. The officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Armando Frank, a well-known U.S. Air Force vet in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, had demonstrated bouts of mental illness in 2017 after serving in Afghanistan. He had an outstanding warrant related to trespassing. While on his tractor in a Walmart parking lot, police approached.
He showed them his ID and asked to see the warrant. Instead, he was pulled from his tractor by police and choked to death. The medical examiner ruled his death a “homicide” with “contribution of hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.” No charges were filed.
And the list goes on.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has consistently warned Black America of White America’s racist plan to get rid of her “Black problem.” He has warned our entertainers that the degenerate images and lifestyles portrayed in music and movies are aimed at painting our people as savages and undeserving of life.
He has said, like we see in Gaza, there would be hesitancy from world leaders to intervene to stop an unjust massacre. Minister Farrakhan has noted the saying that the Klan used to wear white. Now they wear blue uniforms and black judicial robes.
In his 2018 Saviours’ Day message titled, “A Saviour is Born for the Whole of Humanity: No One Need Perish,” speaking about White law enforcement officers, he noted:
“You’re not dealing with somebody who respects his own law. He wants you to flaunt his authority so he can use the power of his authority on you. The gun is his law. The taser is his law. All he wants is an excuse to use it.”
War is on the horizon. Blacks will die overseas defending the country. When those who survive return, will they be saluted for their Army green, Navy white, and Marine blue?
Or will they be seen only for their Blackness?
James G. Muhammad is a former editor-in-chief of The Final Call and is currently a contributing editor
Thank you for your service Black veterans, however …!