By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Well, for all of you present day Black Republicans (an anachronism?) you must be shouting for joy that the Navy, under the racist auspices of Pete Hegseth who disdains anything that remotely smacks of Black Americans being
seen as authentic Americans, is up to his old tricks.
This time, Petey, behind the scenes, is testing the waters of not naming an
aircraft carrier after the naval hero, Doris (Dorie) Miller, whose heroic actions at Pearl Harbor brought him the honor of being the first Black American to be awarded the Naval Cross for bravery.
If you do not know the name, Google it. A movie, starring Cuba Gooding Jr., was made about his heroic struggle against racism in the 1940’s where Black men served as mess servants and janitors on naval ships.
Just so happens that smothering racism did not drown out his spirit of
being, “all he could be” while serving in subservient roles.
Doris Miller, who had never fired a anti-aircraft weapon, put on his Superman cape when his ship was attacked by Japanese fighter planes and rushed to the desk and manned a battle station gun system and shot down a marauding Japanese plane.
Risking his own life for others, Doris Miller took his oath of service seriously and ran to the gunfire from his mess quarters and took up arms against the
invading planes.
No one told him to…no one ordered him to…Doris Miller, with a sense of
patriotism; with pride in his uniform and country, saw the urgent need and answered the call.
When the dust settled and the Navy and then the public heard and saw what this Black man did, the sentiment against Blacks serving in the Navy
suddenly turned in their favor.
Of course, it was not until Truman signed the executive order in1948 that the armed forces were desegregated, but Doris Miller’s unhesitating commitment to the battle was a hot plate against the rabid racists of his day who said Blacks were not mentally fit for combat.
Now Petey Hegseth wants to excise that important history from the annals of American combat history by suggesting, out loud, that the aircraft carrier should be possibly named for a 34-times convicted felon, an adjudged sexual abuser and a man who repeatedly lies about the results of the 2020
Election and every other matter.
By now, you know that odious name: Trump. Trump, a five-time draft
dodger due to “bone spurs” in his feet, has pined for a ship to be named after him and do you think that at his age of 80, he would defer to the ship being named after a real war hero?
Answer: do chickens have lips?…do snakes have hips?
This debate as to the naming of this ship started during the first Trump administration when Doris Miller’s name was the accepted for the new battleship aircraft carrier…but fast forward to the present.
Trump, who even has visions of being on Mount Rushmore, and is now
engaged in a series of building projects that have or will bear his name (if not stopped) has not said no to his name being swapped in for Doris Miller.
What an effrontery to the memory of Doris Miller and his living family members to see racism being allowed to dictate the course of past Black History.
But…this is what those who decry D.E.I. and “wokeism” want all along and
that is to kneecap any historical record that places front and center the accomplishments and exploits of people of color.
Petey Hegseth, the former Fox News commentator and who plays a soldier on television, is intent on erasing all of the Black history he can from his vantage point as Secretary of Defense (n.k.a. Secretary of War).
If you want to protest this outrageous act of historical regression, you can contact the Navy at: Office of the Secretary of Navy, 1000 Navy Pentagon, Room 4D652, Washington, D.C. 20350.
Let them know that you stand with Dorie Miller being honored with his name on that aircraft carrier.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at lafe5x@gmail.com