The Time Is Now

On Sunday mornings I read the news papers. This morning I read an article in the New York Times by Brent Staples. The title of the piece was “A Hero in the Jim Crow Navy”. The Navy was undoubtedly the most segregated branches of the military. When WW II started there was opportunity available to black men in the Navy. They could only be messianic and stewards. They were assigned the duty of preparing meals and shining shoes.

One of the heroes of Pearl Harbor was Messman Third Class Doris Miller fondly referred to as Dorie Miller. On the morning of December 7th Dorie Miller was going about his ordinary duties when the attack was launched. He made his way to the ships bridge where he manned an anti aircraft gun that as a ships messman he had never been trained on. He later came to the aid of the ships Captain who had been mortally wounded.

15 Whiteman were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions at Pearl Harbor. Although a campaign was launched in the black press to have Dorie Miller awarded the Model of Honor he would only be awarded the Navy Cross. The irony was that the man he had given aid to, Captain Mervyn Sharp Bennion who had been rendered incapacitated at the onset of the attack received the highest honor of the nation. Captain Binion who had been helpless during the attack was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor because he “strongly protested” being removed from his post.

Two years later Dorie Miller was when his ship was torpedoed by a Japanese ship. It was not until February of 1944 that the Navy commissioned its first black officers. Even with the training and commissioning of the Golden Thirteen things moved at a snails pace in the Navy. It was not until 1969 when the Navy created the BOOST program designed to prepare selected black enlisted personnel for admission to the Naval Academy or accredited NROTC programs at a University or College.

Former CNO Admiral Elmo Zumwalt once described the Navy as the “lily-white racist Navy”. I became a beneficiary of the Navy BOOST program. The Navy was the catalyst that made the rest of my life possible. That does not alter the fact that work still remains to be done. During my active duty years in the 70’s it wasn’t unusual to see white enlisted personnel cross the street when they saw a black officer approaching to avoid having to salute.

America holds on to her legacy of racism like a woman clutching her pearls. The Navy expects to launch the USS Doris Miller in 2032. It will be the first Aircraft Carrier to bear the name of a black man. It will be the first Carrier to be named for an enlisted man. Those are good things. What would really be a beautiful thing would be President Joseph Biden Posthumously awarding the Congressional Medal of Honor to Dorie Miller. President elect Biden says that he wants to heal this nation. Starting with Dorie Miller would be a good place to start.

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