Racism_against_African_Americans_in_the_U.S._military

I'm a firm believer in facing facts; maybe that's why I love history so much. One of the first lessons they teach you in studying history is how to identify context. For example; I once visited the Colosseum in Rome. My professor, back in the USA, had told me that the little alcoves interspersed throughout were vomitoriums...places patrons would go to literally throw up the vast amounts of food they consumed so they eat more at the games. However, the resident archeologist there informed me these were stalls of resident prostitutes who "worked" the games. The lesson I took from this? Two thousand years from now...future historians are going to have a hell of a time figuring out what a "breakfast nook" was for.

The United States wasn't unique in it's racist views of Africans...or Asians, or indigenous tribes. Britain, France, Germany...pretty much every "empire" that ever existed, at one time or another, exploited, vilified, and abused the less powerful races they came across in their quest for more territory, resources, and power. It's a wrong we can never "erase"...nor should we even try. However, it's also of note that in less than twenty years after the Emancipation Proclamation...we had begun commissioning serving African American officers in the U.S. Army. Native American soldiers were receiving the Medal of Honor as early as the Plains Indian Wars. Some of our most revered military heroes were in fact minorities...and many of my greatest senior officers and mentors were African Americans. I'd have to research the statistics...but my guess is that our record of inclusion in the Armed Forces rivals many, if not most of the world's powers.

SSG Robert Mark Odom I've been out for a while. What is the new deal with this?