Broadening the Narrative: Systemic Racism Series: Military

Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes

Did you know that on June 1st, 1863, Harriet Tubman and Colonel James Montgomery directed The 2nd Regiment South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (African Descent) through a mine-filled river to free more than 700 enslaved Black people? Did you know that the boats they boarded had to then get past cannon-lined river banks?

JACK: The success of the Combahee Raid was front page news in 1863, North and South. Heading up a river? Daringly making a strike behind enemy lines? A month later, Robert E. Lee tried the exact same tactic at Gettysburg - a daring dash behind enemy lines. And we all know how that worked out. Major movies have been made about Lee’s greatest disaster…

CHENJERAI: But there’s never been a movie about the success of the Combahee raid. In fact, I only heard of it because it was the name of a feminist collective in the 1960s who took their name from Harriet Tubman’s leadership in the raid. It’s not in any standard history textbooks.

The stories we tell about the history of our country and the military matter for they shape the narrative the next generation believes, preserves, and perpetuates.

[The quotes from Jack and Chenjerai above are from the transcript for the Uncivil podcast episode “The Raid.”]

I am continuing in the systemic racism series here on the Broadening the Narrative blog. To learn more about this series, you can read the first twelve posts. I am learning and sharing as a learner, not as a teacher or an expert. Today’s post addresses systemic racism in the military.

Data

“In 2017, 57% of U.S. servicemembers were white, 16% were black and 16% were Hispanic. Some 4% of all active duty personnel were Asian and an additional 6% identified as ‘other’ or unknown,” according to the Pew Research Center article “The Changing Profile of the U.S. Military: Smaller in Size, More Diverse, More Women in Leadership” by Amanda Barroso. Simon Moya-Smith wrote in the Vice article “100 Ways to Support - Not Appropriate From - Native People,” “Natives, per capita, serve in the U.S. military more than any other racial demographic.” In the 2020 article “African-Americans Are Highly Visible in the Military, but Almost Invisible at the Top,” Helene Cooper reported, “Some 43 percent of the 1.3 million men and women on active duty in the United States military are people of color. But the people making crucial decisions, such as how to respond to the coronavirus crisis and how many troops to send to Afghanistan or Syria, are almost entirely white and male. Of the 41 most senior commanders in the military - those with four-star rank in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard - only two are black: Gen. Michael X. Garrett, who leads the Army’s Forces Command, and Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr, the commander of Pacific Air Forces.”

History

To see how we got here, let’s examine the history of the military.

Captain Schuyler C. Webb and William J. Herrmann co-authored “Historical Overview of Racism in the Military” on behalf of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) in 2002. They provided research from the colonial period to the contemporary period. Some points of interest from the publication include:

- Colonial Period (1528-1774) - “Local militias welcomed free and enslaved Africans to enlist and fight against Native Americans, and later the French. In 1639, as the enslaved population increased, reports of slave uprisings began to spread. In reaction to these reports, Virginia and other colonies enacted a law excluding Blacks from being provided arms and/or ammunition.”

- American Revolution (1775-1783) - “By the end of 1775, numerous issues including personnel shortages forced General George Washington to reverse the ban on the use of Black soldiers. During the American Revolutionary War, the typical Black soldier was a private, often lacking a name or official identity. He was carried on the rolls as A Negro man, or Negro by name, or a Negro name not Known…As the war continued, enslaved Blacks substituted for White masters who chose not to fight...The new U.S. Constitution re-emphasized Black inferiority by deeming that, for political representation, each enslaved Black would only count as three-fifths of a human being. A few years later, Congress enacted the Militia Act of 1792 thereby restricting militia enrollment to every free and able White male citizen of the respective states…of the age [from] 18 to 45. In 1798, the Marine Corps adopted a policy forbidding the enlistment of Negroes, Mulattos, and Indians. This policy was effective until 1942.”

(A note on language: In the Sincerely, Lettie podcast episode “Enslaved vs. Slave,” historian Lettie Shumate “discuss[ed] the importance of language that humanizes.” In addition to using enslaved instead of slave, she uses enslaver rather than owner or master.)

- War of 1812 (1812-1815) - “ Blacks were enlisted only when a shortage of Whites rendered it a necessity and as a last resort...Free Blacks were offered the same pay, bounties, and a 160-acre land grant, which Jackson had guaranteed his White soldiers. The day following the battle, Jackson ordered the confiscation of weapons from all his Black troops and secretly ordered their ammunition removed. Two days after the battle (January 8, 1815), General Jackson revoked all of his promises to Blacks serving under his command...On February 18, 1820, the U.S. Army issued an order stating, ‘No Negro or mulatto will be received as a recruit of the Army.’ Years later, in 1839, Navy officials expressed concern about the large number of Blacks in the Navy by implementing a five-percent quota.”

- The Civil War (1861-1865) - “At the beginning of the Civil War, Blacks were not accepted by the Union Army. However, heavy casualties and shortages in support personnel soon changed the Union’s attitude about Black enlistment...On June 15, 1864, Congress granted equal pay for all troops after protest by Black troops, abolitionist groups, politicians, and newspapers. However, the equal pay policy only authorized those Black soldiers who were free before April 19, 1861, when the war began. In combat, there was no equality. The mortality rate for Blacks was almost 40 percent higher than Whites due to poor equipment, conditions, and non-existent medical facilities...In 1862, the Navy Secretary opened all enlisted positions to Blacks, but continued to exclude them from the ranks of petty or commissioned officer. Mostly serving in Texas, Hispanics were also part of the war effort and fought on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line...Some 20,000 Indians joined both sides of the conflict as well, serving as generals, infantrymen, sharpshooters, guides, guerrillas, and spies. Many who served found their land taken after the war and the newly militarized/industrialized government turning its war machine against them in the West. ”

- The Indian Campaigns (1866-1892) - “The only route for Blacks to become an officer was through the U.S. Military Academy. In 1879, after pressure from some civilian leaders, the Academy allowed Blacks to attend. Between 1879 and 1890, 25 Blacks received appointments and only three Blacks graduated holding a Regular Army commission...In 1870, 29 percent of Black sailors held positions as cooks and stewards; this would increase to 49 percent by 1890. There was no change to Navy policy that caused this, but rather a choice made by many captains who placed Blacks in kitchens and dining rooms. Some Navy officials believed that Blacks did not have the intelligence to work with the steam boilers and mechanization that replaced the old sailing ships...Policy of utilizing Indians as soldiers proved decidedly unpopular with many officers. They believed that there were qualified recruits (i.e., Whites) in the country without resorting to ‘enlisting savages’ to defend the flag.”

- Spanish American War (1898) - “In the Battle of San Juan Hill (a.k.a. Kettle Hill), the Black regiments came to the rescue of Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, but their achievement is ignored in most history books. Voicing the racial climate and attitude of the time, the most famous Rough Rider, Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt, openly criticized Black troops for being peculiarly dependent on their White officers and called them laggards who tended to drift to the rear. Among the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, more commonly known as the Rough Riders, were 14 Hispanic soldiers (officers and enlisted) who served in Cuba, under the close scrutiny of White commanders who were suspicious of their Spanish heritage.”

- World War I (1914-1918) - “Marcelino Serna’s record showed he enlisted in the Army and fought in the front-line trenches of France. After distinguishing himself repeatedly and on one occasion that made him seemingly eligible for the Medal of Honor, a White officer told him that to be so honored one had to be of a higher rank than a buck private. In addition, Serna was told he could not be advanced to a higher grade because he could not read or write English well enough to sign reports. Filipinos, who enlisted in the Navy during this time, found that their enlistment made them exclusively stewards…[Native Americans] would not receive any veteran benefits until 1924, when they were declared citizens. The ruling on citizenship was in large measure a reaction of gratitude to the large number of Native Americans who fought during World War I, yet paternalism, discrimination, and exploitation were still commonplace in the military...In this war and wars to come, Native Americans were often placed in inordinately dangerous positions and resulted in fatal consequences. Blacks were among those who rushed to the recruiting station in April 1917, seeking to volunteer their services, but they were not accepted. A month later, The Selective Service Act did not exclude Blacks and almost 3 million were registered...Blacks were barred from the Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Army Aviation Corps. Those who experienced combat were assigned to the all-Black 92nd or 93rd Divisions. The 92nd Division served under White American officers in France. They were humiliated and often treated worse than the captured enemy...Black soldiers found little had changed when they returned from the war. Jim Crow laws were still rampant. The Ku Klux Klan was revived in 1915. A White speaker in New Orleans stated, ‘You ******* were wondering how you were going to be treated after the war, same as before the war, this is a White-man’s country and we intend to rule it.’”

- Between the Wars (1918-1939) - “Most officials in policy-making positions believed that placing Blacks in combat and/or allowing Blacks to become commissioned officers were mistakes. These thoughts were reinforced by the results of the intelligence tests given to recruits enlisting in the Services...As a result of these tests, many psychologists concluded that intelligence was influenced little by one’s environment and that Blacks had restricted mental capacities that could not be changed through education...In October 1925, the Army War College issued a report entitled The Use of Negro Manpower in War, which was written by Major General H.E. Ely, Commandant...As the report proceeded, it reflected almost every prevailing racial stereotype, caricature, and rationale for keeping Blacks in the lowest subordinate positions. This report was submitted to the Army Chief of Staff on October 30, 1925 and would have a continuing impact on military recruitment and treatment of Blacks and other minority groups in subsequent years.”

- World War II (1939-1945) - “De facto racism was an entrenched way of life in the United States during this period. The War Department directives forbade discrimination, but the Services virtually ignored them. The Army was overwhelmingly Southern in its orientation and its officers were intent on maintaining a two-category system (i.e., one White and one Colored)...By the start of World War II, African Americans were being admitted into the Army and Navy in segregated units. On June 25, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 8802, which established the Fair Employment Practices Commission and created a policy of non-discrimination in all branches of the Armed Services. In 1942, after virtually being ordered by President Roosevelt, the Marine Corps began recruiting Blacks for the first time since 1798. The Marine Corps Commandant was opposed to accepting a large number of Blacks in the Corps. In April 1941, he told the Navy General Board: ‘If it were a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 whites or 250,000 Negroes, I would rather have the whites.’...With the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese Americans were placed in a precarious dilemma, which further strained race relations. Soon after the attack, Japanese Americans serving in the Hawaiian Territorial Guard were discharged from service. Members of the 298th and 299th Regiments were disarmed and assigned menial labor tasks... The western defense commander was quoted as saying, ‘A ***’s a ***. It makes no difference whether the *** is a citizen or not.’ Japanese families living on the West Coast were moved and assigned to internment camps...Although the American government claimed that the confinement was necessary to prevent subversive actions, it would eventually be revealed that not the military necessity, but primarily racial prejudice, provoked such unprecedented drastic measures, which were indiscriminately applied to the whole national group...Filipino Americans were required to register as aliens and were not allowed to serve. In 1941, they protested and petitioned Congress to retain the right to serve...After the war, Hispanics found that discrimination back home was still intact, even for the many whom did not return alive.”

- Korean War (1950-1953) - During the war, the military had initiated a study on the effects of segregation and integration in the Armed Services. Conducted by the Operations Research Office of Johns Hopkins University, Project Clear (formally entitled The Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Army) studied the situation both in Korea and in the United States. Their study, released in 1954, concluded that racially segregated units limited overall military effectiveness, while integration enhanced effectiveness.”

- Vietnam War (1959-1975) - “Promised training was seldom implemented and there was little effort to raise reading skills to a fifth grade level. This resulted in many poor and uneducated men being deployed to Vietnam to risk their lives. It is estimated that under this program, only 40 percent of the men were actually trained for combat. Approximately 40,000 Blacks under the project were deployed to Vietnam. This ultimately contributed to the disproportionate 20 percent casualty figures Blacks sustained during the onset of the war. Native Americans made up more than two percent of all troops who served in Vietnam, while comprising less than one percent of the U.S. Census. Essentially, Native Americans performed the same kinds of duties as their fellow troops, except that they were often selected by the leadership for hazardous duty jobs simply because they were Native Americans...During the late 60s and early 70s, there were numerous riots in the military. The racial explosions and problems from the civilian sector also plagued the military. Military leaders believed that desegregation would solve the problems. It did not since the policy changes that began with Executive Order 9981 did not create equal treatment.”

- Contemporary Period - “The Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (MEOCS) data analyzed at DEOMI indicates that race, more than gender, is a significant factor in the EO climate. In addition, a recent Army study including installations in the United States, Europe and Asia suggested that racial bias is still evident. Some soldiers reported that issues involving racial tensions were not being addressed and the military was moving backward in the area of equal opportunity. The report went on to conclude that the survey proved that, in spite of the progress in integration and affirmative action, the military would always struggle with the stereotypes and perceptions that plagued the Army in the 1970s.”

Helene Cooper wrote in the article “African-Americans Are Highly Visible in the Military, but Almost Invisible at the Top” referenced above, “The reasons there are so few people of color at the top lie deep in the history and culture of the United States military. A 1925 guidance for Army officers stated that black service members were a class ‘from which we cannot expect to draw leadership material.’ The armed forces were not fully integrated until after World War II, a legacy that has left African-Americans without the same history of generations of family service shared by so many white enlistees. The elite service academies that feed the officer class - the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs - have increased their enrollment of minority recruits in recent years but remain largely white. The African-Americans who do become officers are often steered to specialize in logistics and transportation rather than the marquee combat arms specialties that lead to the top jobs...The Trump presidency, minority service members said, has only magnified the sense of isolation they have long felt in a stratified system...Racism within the military appears to be on the rise. A survey last fall of 1,630 active-duty subscribers to Military Times found that 36 percent of those polled and 53 percent of minority service members said they had seen examples of white nationalism or ideologically driven racism among their fellow troops. The numbers were up significantly from the same poll conducted in 2018, when 22 percent of all respondents reported personally witnessing white nationalism.”

Action Steps

Complete additional research on the topic of systemic racism in the military. There are numerous examples I did not address that are important. For example, in So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo wrote, "When my employer enforces hairstyles in their dress code that ignore the very specific hairstyle needs of black women (see military restrictions against small braids, for example), then my employer is making race an issue in their attempts to ignore it" (Oluo, 2018, p.44). For more information about this, you can read the NY Times article "Army Lifts Ban on [Locks], and Black Servicewomen Rejoice" by Christopher Mele and watch the video "Locks in the Military (Army)" from the GreenBeauty YouTube channel. I will also link additional resources at the end of the post.

Have action that follows your research and reflection.

- Support continued policy changes in the military.

In the Conclusion of the 2002 “Historical Overview of Racism in the Military” referenced above, Captain Schuyler C. Webb and William J. Herrmann wrote, “Military policies to eliminate discrimination in the ranks are crucial. To do anything less is not in keeping with our democratic principles.”

- Vote, show up, and engage in meaningful ways to dismantle systems of oppression. Do all of this under the leadership of Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian/Asian American, and Pacific Islander People of Color.

What to Expect in Future Posts

At this time, I plan to address systemic racism as seen in politics and the Christian church in future posts. I will give action steps for myself and readers and provide additional resources.

As I look at the Equal Justice Initiative calendar and read it to my kids, I see that every single day conveys at least one injustice, usually based on race. These are past and present injustices, spanning hundreds of years, demonstrating that racism in this country is not simply an individual problem. Rather, racism is a systemic problem, infecting institutions and structures. Further, this problem centers around justice, therefore it's a problem Godde is concerned about, which means I must be concerned. I don’t think systemic racism is solely a political issue but also a spiritual issue. I am called to love my neighbor, and one way I can do this is by joining the fight to dismantle systems of oppression so that all people can flourish

(Resources are linked below.)

Videos to View

“Why the U.S. Military Hasn’t Made More Progress on Overcoming Racism”

Race - The Power of an Illusion

Podcasts (for your listening pleasure and discomfort)

Uncivil

Sincerely, Lettie “Diversity Is Not Inclusion, and Other Thoughts”