Honoring Our Fighting Men and Women on Veteran's Day

"...there has hardly been a single skirmish in North American history, over the past three centuries or twelve grandmothers' lifetimes, in which African American soldiers have not either killed or been killed or wounded.''
Dear friends,

The outstanding African American scholar and historian Vincent Harding has written, "...it was on the edges of our continent that the long struggle for Black freedom began." - There is a River

Each Memorial Day we mark the beginning of summertime and cookouts. There is, to some extent, as well, the remembrance of US soldiers who have died in battles for both freedom and profit.

However, throughout the festivities, most people in the United States take for granted the security that we enjoy. Yet, it is in no small part due to the historic courage of African American soldiers fighting alongside their non-African American counterparts (who before the war of Independence, were mostly British, with some German and Dutch - no Irish, Italinn, Polish, or Jewish ones), whether in segregated or non-segregated units, that has brought us to this present point of relative peace and prosperity.

To be sure, the roles of people of African descent began with our predecessors fighting on both sides of the various conflicts. Still, even though our forebears fought on both sides, they have helped to liberate all North Americans.

For example, in The Negro in Colonial New England, author Lorenzo Johnston Greene cites that one year prior to the Declaration of Independence, ‘’when Paul Revere and William Dawes aroused the Massachusetts countryside on that memorable night of April 18 - they called Negro as well as white Minutemen to the defense of American liberties.’’ Peter Salem of Framingham, Job Potomea and Isaiah Barjonah of Stoneham, Cuff Whitemore of Cambridge were a few of the many African American warriors who rode with Revere and others in the now famous call to arms against British imperialism.

Of course, although African American soldiers have become part of a military force that, throughout time, has served as more of an enemy to them than a friend, the reasons for these Black soldiers fighting has rarely been mercenary. Instead, as many of their European American counterparts have done, Black soldiers fight, not only for the pay, but out of a genuine feeling of "fighting for freedom" in the abstract, along with the opportunity to feel powerful as individuals, in a seemingly powerless existence.

In any case, hardly ever mentioned, if not avoided altogether, in discussions concerning the African American experience are the historic roles of African American women in preserving the heritage of our people in the midst of a "double jeopardy", that is, being African American and a woman. (see essay by Francis Beale called "Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female"," from The Black Woman, edited by Toni Cade Bambara)

Although they have been victimized, historically, from almost everyone in society, African American women have continued to have an unchallenged influence on North America by virtue of the fact that they have preserved the African American culture, at times almost single-handedly.

Moreover, African American women are tough workers and great fighters. Lately, there has been a cry by Western feminists regarding all women being allowed to join active fighting units in the military. Of course, African American women have a long history of taking part in North American warfare, long before names like Harriet Tubman became widely known, and ever since, with warriors like the Black Panther Party’s and Black Liberation Army’s Assata Shakur (who now lives in Cuba).

Nevertheless, while the name of Sojourner Truth who on more than one occasion had to ask her European American counterparts, "Ain't I a woman?", is fairly recognizable, few are familiar with the story of Ida B. Wells. She was a genuine gun-toting liberator (in fact, she carried two guns).

After the lynching of three African American businessmen in her native Memphis, Tennessee, about 120 years or five generations ago, Wells began a personal crusade of justice for her people that included lectures, rallies and other forms of protest.

Additionally, readers should be reminded that Ida received a great deal of support from her African American sisters. She was no lone nut. Her fight lasted for decades (see When And Where I Enter, by Paula Giddings.)

At any rate, there has been hardly a single skirmish in North American history, over the past three centuries or twelve grandmothers' lifetimes, in which African American soldiers have not either killed or been killed or wounded. Yet, Black soldiers have not only been infantry fighters. For there have always been military leaders of African descent who have helped shape military campaigns or administrate both war and peacetime units. More importantly, African American soldiers, as a whole, have helped secure liberties, without which, few people who make up our current U.S. A. citizenry, would even have the opportunity to call themselves "American", much less "white."

Cheers!

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

G. Djata Bumpus