Mythbusting: the Racist Army

Every politically active and historically interested American should read Daniel Patrick Moynihan's report, "The Negro Family: The Case For National Action" (1964). This was very controversial at writing, and is now regarded as both counter-cultural and prophetic, as the problems Moynihan documents redoubled through the 1970's and 80's.

One statistic that deserves mention is that blacks were disproportionately underrepresented in the U.S. military at the time of writing. While this may have swung drastically during Vietnam (doubtful, anyone have data?), the stereotype of white commanders sending black troops to die seems to be an artifact of Hollywood and demagoguery. Moynihan writes:

Although service in the Armed Forces is at least nominally a duty of all male citizens coming of age, it is clear that the present system does not enable Negroes to serve in anything like their proportionate numbers. This is not a question of discrimination. Induction into the Armed Forces is based on a variety of objective tests and standards, but these tests nonetheless have the effect of keeping the number of Negroes disproportionately small.

In 1963 the United States Commission on Civil Rights reported that "A decade ago, Negroes constituted 8 percent of the Armed Forces. Today... they continue to constitute 8 percent of the Armed Forces."

In 1964 Negroes constituted 11.8 percent of the population, but probably remain at 8 percent of the Armed Forces...

In 1963 the Civil Rights Commission commented on the occupational aspect of military service for Negroes. "Negro enlisted men enjoy relatively better opportunities in the Armed Forces than in the civilian economy in every clerical, technical, and skilled field for which the data permit comparison."

The rest of Moynihan's work deserves to be quoted here, especially his prescient appeal on behalf of black men, but you'll just have to go read it yourself.