It's a good year for Black folks yall. First, Disney decides to create a black Princess and now...the Tuskegee Airmen are getting the Congressional Gold Medal. SIXTY YEARS LATER.
(Okay, okay...sarcasm aside for this one. Imma be good. SIP is being VERY militant however.)
I've talked about my father being a racist often and it's true. He was a product of his environment and added to his strength intellectually and his illness...well...it was kinda special to say the least.
My father used to tell us stories about the Tuskegee airman with an awed look on his face. With respect and admiration. The way he spoke of them was so idyllic that they became mythical legends to me. And he would always, ALWAYS end his stories of how these men were treated when they returned home to the States. After fighting for our country, after some of them were even held captive by the enemy.
There was no internet back then, so the history of Black people had to be researched and passed on by word of mouth because it cetainly wasn't readily available to us in the media or in "our" history books.
It's accomplishments like this that need to be brought front and center and rectified. I don't give a damn about States apologizing for slavery. I truly don't. But it does my heart good to know these outstanding heros of my father and myself, are getting the recognition they deserve. Even if it's coming sixty years later.
I have acknowledged these men all my life as the heros they are. With respect and admiration, I say to them again simply....THANK YOU.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802509.html
