Master Sergeant Austin Alexander, Jr. talks about his time is the United States Army. He proudly served his country from 1964 to 1984.  Mr. Alexander comments about his time in Vietnam and the state of Race Relations during that period.

John Sibley Butler‘s outline of the serious problems African-American Soldiers encountered and what the military did to correct the problems is as follows:

The Vietnam War saw the highest proportion of blacks ever to serve in an American war. During the height of the U.S. involvement, 1965-69, blacks, who formed 11 percent of the American population, made up 12.6 percent of the soldiers in Vietnam. The majority of these were in the infantry, and although authorities differ on the figures, the percentage of black combat fatalities in that period was a staggering 14.9 percent, a proportion that subsequently declined. Volunteers and draftees included many frustrated blacks whose impatience with the war and the delays in racial progress in America led to race riots on a number of ships and military bases, beginning in 1968 and the services’ response in creating interracial councils and racial sensitivity training.

Jay Harold has a post that goes into much greater detail about certain aspects of the Vietnam War. The post is named “Project 100,000” and it talks about the misguided program to get young African-American Men off the streets of urban American in the mid-1960s.

Jay Harold is always looking for ways to preserve recent African American History so that we can learn from it. Remember ” The best sermons are lived, not preached.” – Cowboy wisdom

Play the free  “Slow Roll Through Civil Rights” Game found on the Jay Harold website. Enjoyed this post? Share it and read more here.