Tuskegee Airmen Invited to Inauguration
Thursday January 1, 2009
All of the Tuskegee Airmen (the first black airmen in U.S. history) have been invited to President-elect Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration. However, finding every living Tuskegee Airman to extend the invitation to has proved somewhat difficult. Since most of the remaining airmen don't have email and not all of them belong to the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. organization, there may be some airmen who have not yet been found. Also, although approximately 225 surviving Tuskegee Airmen have already responded that they would like to attend, the logistics for these aged men to make the trip to Washington D.C. is complicated. As most of these men are in their 80s and 90s, they are concerned about transportation, lodging, weather, bathrooms, and other worries when they will be among the 240,000 people invited to the event. For more about the Tuskegee Airmen's invitation concerns, please read The New York Times article.
Comments
Isn’t this somewhat “prejudiced” - inviting ONLY WWII veteran airmen who are black? They may have been the “first” black airmen, but what else makes them ecceptional? There were lots of ecceptional airmen who were highly skilled,heroic and honourable men, whatever race they happened to be.
Pat, I don’t think you are looking at the significance of what these airmen did, and yes, they are significant for their color of skin. Until the Tuskegee Airman were allowed to train and later fight, most blacks in the military were used as personal assistants, maintenance workers, and cooks. It was because of their skin color that they were not given the same opportunities as whites in the military. It had nothing to do with their ability or level of intelligence. The Tuskegee Airmen proved that Blacks were equal to Whites in their ability to serve their country and fight for the country’s freedom. Add in the fact that racial hostility and prejugdice existed all over the country, these men were still willing to risk their lives for “their” country. They trained at a less than equal facility at Tuskegee and train with less than equal equipment than their white counterparts and these men still went off to war and when finally given the chance to prove themselves as fighter pilots they excelled. They had some of the highest success rates of any pilots during the war. “Exceptional” doesn’t even scratch the surface for what those men who trained and worked at Tuskegee did for our country, the war effort, and their race. If Americans focus more on the skin color of who does what over these next four to eight years and less on what the individuals do, then we will be no better off as a country and we will have failed our children for the World we are preparing for them. God bless all veterans of wars regardless of their skin color or age.
Mike very well spoken terrymc aussi
Mike, I couldn’t have said it better, so I won’t try.
Additionally, Pat, The Tuskegee Airmen flew over 700 missions and, while 66 died in service to our country protecting the all white bombers and 33 were taken as prisoners of war, they never lost one bomber. All the bombers made it back safely. FYI, google herbert carter and view an interview that is there, among other resources.
Fred