The Military's History of Bigotry

The Washington Post has a story today that, while focusing on gays in the military and the 70% of service members who are accepting of gays serving openly, looks at the military's long history of bigotry and makes the case why it's ridiculous for those like John McSenile to say that we should allow the troops to decide who can serve. Using that standard, blacks might well still be exclude fro serving as might those of Jewish descent. And one can only imaging what the verdict would be on Muslim servicemembers. The bottom line is that the rights and obligations of members of the military - or society in general - should never be left to the popular vote, especially given the military's sorry track record when it comes to putting aside discrimination voluntarily. Inasmuch as the armed forces are supposed to uphold the Constitution which at least in theory claims to afford equality to ALL citizens, the military should be the last segment of society to be allowed to practice discrimination and bigotry. I'd also add that some members of minority groups who are not gay accepting such a black clergy members ought to read this story and take a good look in the mirror. They are acting no better than their own former oppressors and in many ways parroting the same arguments once used against their own community. Here are some highlights:
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U.S. troops haven't always been so accepting. Troop surveys conducted throughout the 1940s on blacks and Jews, and in the 1970s and 1980s on women, exposed deep rifts within a military that was dominated by white males but becoming increasingly reliant on minorities to help do its job.
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In a study from July 1947, four of five enlisted men told the Army that they would oppose blacks serving in their units even if whites and blacks didn't share housing or food facilities.
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The same study also revealed a deep resentment toward Jews. Most enlisted men said Jews had profited greatly from the war and many doubted that Jews had suffered under Adolf Hitler. "Negro outfits should be maintained separately," an Army master sergeant from North Carolina told the Pentagon in 1947. "To do otherwise is to invite trouble and many complications. The equal rights plan should not be forced on the Army as an example to civilians."
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Added another 19-year-old soldier: "If the Negro and the whites were mixed, there would be a civil war among the troops. There would be a lot of useless bloodshed if this happens." But President Harry S. Truman issued a 1948 order on equal treatment of blacks in the services anyway - paving the way for integration during the Korean War. None of these doomsday scenarios came true.
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[M]any expressed serious concerns that allowing females as crew members would cause problems. In one 1981 study, lower-ranking enlisted sailors blamed female crew members for a decline in "discipline, leadership and supervision."
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Opponents of repealing "don't ask, don't tell" say letting gays serve openly in the military is different from earlier struggles over the equality of race and gender. Open gay service, they say, raises unique moral questions, such as whether gay and straight troops should be forced to share living quarters.