Author: The New York Times Editorial Board
Affiliation: The New York Times
Organization/Publisher: The New York Times
Date/Place: May 23, 2020/ USA
Type of Literature: Analysis
Word Count: 2030
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/opinion/sunday/army-base-names-confederacy-racism.html
Keywords: White Supremacy, US Army, Negroes, War Criminals, Military Law
Brief:
The article takes account of White supremacy running through history along with the racist sentiments in the US Army. The author refers to the murder of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a White supremacist, who was given a white chit and his act was viewed with the Confederate banner as a harmless expression of regional pride. The same legacy was carried out in the wake of the Civil War against Negroes, which allowed Whites to keep a segregated housing and transportation system for the colored people. The Jim Crow system in this regard was adopted to make the toxic legacy of White supremacist racism into a legitimate act. While White war criminals are profoundly celebrated in the US as heroes, the colored recruits who committed to die for their land were deliberately kept in the combat units and Black servicemen were treated worse than enemies. These racist connotations were applied to Southern military bases and were transferred to bases in the North and West as well. While commandants wanted to police the leisure time conduct of Black soldiers, those conventions spilled over into the surrounding towns that had never known Jim Crow. Even the relation between a colored soldier and a woman was treated as rape under the military law in WWII.
By: Saima Rashid, CIGA Research Assistant
