One article that offers a brief and concise history of the lives of the African American community is a publication by Margaret Stevens. The article focuses on the lives of African Americans and their plight to earn recognition as equal citizens with their white counterparts in the US.According to Stevens, the declining influence of American bosses on the global business field has prompted them to seek for a way of protecting its interest. Of significance to the growth of the US economy is oil.
Oil is said to be the main reason why the US attacked Iraq. The continued stay of US army in Iraq however, needs more staff and one priority of the army is to increase its troops.This follows from the fact that both Russia and China are becoming more and more popular with oil producing countries which makes the US jittery about the need to ensure a guaranteed oil supply.This increase in the army population has brought about the issue of African Americans involvement in the armed conflicts of America. From history, African Americans have always taken part in most conflicts of America; from the civil war to the Vietnam War and now the ‘war against terror’ which is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Americans of African Descent have always been lured to the army due to its incentive, first as a way of earning money and secondly because it offered an escape from the real world of racial hatred. It was in the army that African Americans began to earn money as paid laborers, to be promoted to be officers and generally to be treated more like their white counterparts.Yet it is also ironically under the same army that the African Americans have had to bear the brunt of the negative consequences of war- losing their loved ones in the face of a seemingly endless warfare and remaining the perpetual victims of exploitation socially, economically, and politically. This trend persists even as the toils of their sacrifices serve to meet the U.S. capitalist’s oil profits.
Citing a recent movie, The Kingdom, in which veteran star Jamie Foxx features prominently, African Americans are duped into supporting what, is believed to be war against terrorism by volunteering to take part in the war against Saudi Arabia.Stevenson argues that despite the prevailing contradiction in the racist United States, the trend has been in existence since time immemorial. For instance, in the era of the American Revolution and that of the civil war, African Americans relentlessly fought with the incredulous belief that their efforts would yield the social and political freedom for their entire race.Moreover during the American war against the Spanish people, African Americans’ services were employed to quell the Filipino rebels who rose to protest against U.S.
imperialists, a issue that brought an ironical twist when some African Americans instead, decided to side with the Filipinos in the protests.Stevenson however, also acknowledges that the African American struggle for equality has in some instances borne fruits. For instance in the Spanish –American warfare, some African Americans earned promotions as recognition for their efforts in the fight. The first and second world wars saw African Americans introduced to their white colleagues.In conclusion, Stevenson’s article offers a balanced view of the struggles that the African Americans are undergoing, although it should also have emphasized more on their feats.Referencehttp://socialistworker.org/2008/01/11/black-soldiers-antiwar-movement
