As many of you know, this is not the first time that African Americans have been discriminated against and pulled together their collective efforts to overcome racial challenges. For example, by 1945 the United States sent more than 200,000 Black soldiers to assist France with efforts against the Nazis. Many of the roles of Black soldiers, with the exception of a few, were relegated to menial tasks such as burying the dead.

One such group is better known as the all Black Tuskegee Airmen. While the Tuskegee Airmen have received much notoriety, we are never told that they had a positive connection to the Jewish Holocaust. They risked their lives when flying missions in Nazi territories. Some were shot down and ended up in Nazi concentration camps or killed on the spot.

At the same time there was a waging war against racism in the United States. Many African Americans took offense to the contradictory position of fighting a war for democracy abroad while obstructing the democratic rights of African Americans at home.

In response to this atrocity, civil rights leader A. Phillip Randolph threatened a 1941 march on Washington. The protest was designed to focus on the segregation that existed in the armed services and the military industries. On June 25, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive order 8902 which required all employers, unions, and government offices and agencies to “provide for full and equitable participation of all workers in defense industries without discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin. This resulted in the creation of Fair Employment Practices Committee whose purpose was to enforce the new order.

WE CAN Win!

Dr. Derrick Campbell

Quarantine Racism Educational Services.

moreinfo@quarantineracism.com

#BlackLearnersMatterToo