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14. Black Paradox in the Age of Terrorism: Military Patriotism or Higher Education?
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14 Black Paradox in the Age of Terrorism Military Patriotism or Higher Education? Ronald E. Goodwin IN HIS SEMINAL treatise on blacks in the United States, W. E. B. Du Bois pondered a question that still confounds this country and particularly the black community . He asked if blacks could be accepted as Americans while still maintaining the culture and identity of Africa. Du Bois argued that such “twoness” would present a monumental challenge to blacks in the twentieth century.1 Certainly, other immigrants have faced similar challenges, but none faced the daunting task of overcoming the legacy of slavery. Nonetheless, the challenge of identity has not hindered African Americans from contributing to a military that forged a new nation during the American Revolution and refined the meaning of liberty during the Civil War. Today, blacks contribute to arguably the most technically advanced military the world has ever seen in the defense and preservation of democracy worldwide. In fact, the history and accomplishments of the US military inspire patriotism in those who recognize that our democracy and freedoms have come at the expense of men and women, regardless of race or ethnicity, who sacrificed in service to our nation. The images of Gen. George Washington and his ill-fed troops crossing the Delaware River as a precursor to their surprise attack against the Hessians near Trenton, New Jersey, along with the US Marines raising the Stars and Stripes during the 1945 battle of Iwo Jima serve as reminders of those sacrifices. Unfortunately, there are other images of our democracy and freedom that we would just as soon forget. These include the images of black World War I veterans being lynched while still in uniform.2 African Americans have served in every conflict in this nation’s history and until the 1950s seldom enjoyed the benefits of the democracy 284 Ronald E. Goodwin for which they were fighting. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr., toward the end of his alltoo -brief public career, in one of his most famous and controversial speeches, questioned if this country could continue sending the poor and minorities to foreign battlefields fighting for freedoms they frequently did not enjoy in their own country.3 There is no question that in the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, the black community saw patriotism exhibited by military service as a means to achieve middle-class status. But the patriotism, and its inherent sacrifices, of those black men and women cannot be measured solely by the numbers who achieved the so-called American dream of homeownership in predominately white suburbs. Their patriotism should be considered also in light of the numbers who arrived home in body bags, the numbers of children who never knew their fallen parents, and the numbers of spouses left to raise children alone. In particular, the black community’s relationship with this country’s armed forces has been a gamble at best. On the one hand is economic opportunity and middle-class stability, while on the other is the unfortunate disillusionment and resentfulness of those surviving the loss of a loved one. Yet the civil rights era also brought about another avenue to middle-class status for the black community. The successes of the civil rights movement led to an erosion of barriers to institutions of higher education. As a result, the numbers of blacks enrolling and graduating from universities and colleges throughout the country increased. In 1967 blacks comprised just over 23 percent of all eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old high school graduates enrolled in institutions of higher education. By 2007 that figure had increased to 40 percent.4 These educational statistics indicate that today’s black community no longer relies upon military service as a means to economic stability. Instead, military service in this age of terrorism is an expression of the rich legacy of black patriotism to a country that continues to provide opportunities to those willing to see beyond the tangible obstacles and reach for the intangible dreams where successes, however defined, are ultimately found. The army’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) provides another option that combines higher education followed by military service. The Land Grant Act of 1862 (Morrill Act) not only established colleges that would specifically provide instruction in agriculture and mechanics, present-day Texas A&M University and Prairie View A&M University in Texas among them, but also a commitment to military science . Military instruction was further enhanced at civilian institutions during World War I with the passage...