Racism In Vietnam War Essay

“They had to protect themselves not only from Viet Cong guerrillas, but also from racist abuse, both verbal and physical, within their own ranks.” (Chao 1). During the Vietnam War, racism was at its peak, before it became made illegal and no longer publicly practiced. African Americans comprised a large number of the troops, and racism became a huge theme of the war, for the soldiers and for those back at home, for several reasons. Whites had been given privileges, whilst blacks got punished for nearly everything they did. Mistreated blacks did not receive the rights that they fought for and dying for in the Vietnam war, instead getting racism and slurs thrown at them.

White men received priority over all other races during the Vietnam war.

Matterhorn, a novel written by Karl Marlantes, a Vietnam veteran, about the Vietnam war and the traumas soldiers went through during it, states that, “Blacks wanted justice and felt like whites were getting priority in emergencies.” (Marlantes 457). Money got put into the Vietnam war instead of poor black communities that needed it to survive and were in poverty. According to Nancy Montgomery, “The draft was made biased, taking in more blacks to Vietnam than whites.” (Montgomery 1). This caused more black deaths than whites. Whites ended up receiving unfair priority, when in reality, both races should have been treated equally. This, of course, caused conflicts and protests.
Problems and protests arose back in the U.S.

about racism when the soldiers fought. Protests began in the U.S. because blacks fought in a war because of ideas they did not get permission to follow; freedom and equality. The war started to defend democracy, and blacks hoped to receive said democracy they defended when they got home. Vietnam escalated and increased racism. According to Brendan Gallagher, “Blacks were denied most rights when they returned home, even as veterans.” (Gallagher 2). White americans turned their backs on their own veterans that defended them during the war because of their skin color. This caused upset from black veterans and

families.
Conflicts arose in the marines themselves out in Vietnam. Marines would beat each other up and try to kill each other over racial conflict, even though they were supposed to be working together to defeat a common enemy. “Protests successfully ended legal discrimination, however, it still got practiced illegally.” (Gallagher 3) People, even though they had been told not to, still ended up following racism. According to Fusion Net, “Units got racially integrated for the first time, and therefore did not get along well.” (Linton 2). People could not easily forget the racist ways that they followed their whole lives.
The amount of African Americans soldiers during the war outnumbered whites by far. According to the University of Illinois, “African Americans were a high percentage of combat troops, most volunteered.” (Coffey 1). One million African Americans served in WWII and not given rights, they hoped Vietnam would solve that. They had felt they could only be mistreated for so long without getting justice. White troop leaders used blacks, mostly as infantry, and rarely got higher up positions, causing lots of black lives to be lost.
Asians suffered different problems than blacks in the war, unbeknownst to many.

Asian Americans faced discrimination, including getting beat up, getting called names, getting shot. According to SFGate, “At Ford Ord, troop leaders had Asian infantry dress up in Vietcong clothing to show other recruits what the enemy looked like. The infantry were not happy and most refused.” (Chao 2). Their own American troop leaders thought of them as enemies and not allies. “The soldiers once left a man, David Oshiro, lying bleeding out, and nearly left him to die if he didn’t take out his dog tag and shout, ‘I’m an American.’” (Chao

3).
During the Vietnam War, whites had been given priority over all other races. Problems and protests arose back in the U.S. while the soldiers fought, while conflicts grew between the soldiers themselves out in Vietnam. African Americans outnumbered whites by far, but even then none of them got any ranks and all of them were just disposable infantry to the white leaders. Asians also suffered their own problems completely different from the ones that blacks and African Americans had suffered. Mistreated blacks did not receive the rights that they were fighting for and dying for in the Vietnam war, instead getting insults and hate for their skin color, something they cannot control.