Thread by @AmericanStudier

Apropos of this earlier mini-thread on Rittenhouse & exclusion/inclusion, wanted to share a few #VeteransDay thoughts on US military service & those competing visions of America. #twitterstorians

https://twitter.com/AmericanStudier/status/1458772194541154310?s=20

At one of my book talks for We the People back in 2019, an audience member asked a challenging, excellent question about how many of my examples of an inclusive America seem to come from wars & military service.
rowman.com/ISBN/978153812…

They had a point: in that talk alone I focused at length on Japanese American soldiers in WWII, the US Colored Troops during the Civil War, & the “Manilamen,” the Filipino Americans who played such a vital role in the War of 1812's culminating Battle of New Orleans.

For more on each of those histories:
saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/06/consid…

werehistory.org/veterans-to-re…

books.google.com/books?id=2lyvD…

Implicit in the audience question was whether such emphases on military service can contribute to mythologized visions of war, the military industrial complex, & the very narrow vision of patriotism that is too often linked to a required wartime allegiance.

One way I’d respond to that good question is with a move I always try to make: separating our troops from our wars & that destructive military-industrial complex. Indeed, to my mind fully supporting our troops requires opposing war & all it brings with it, for them & for us all.

But more relevantly to the battle between exclusion/inclusion is this response: at the heart of that defining American debate is the concept of citizenship, not just the legal notion but the overarching idea of who is part of our shared community, who is “American.”

One of the most pernicious ways white supremacists make the case for an exclusionary vision of America is by pretending our history is homogeneously white. & we see that clearly in collective memories of our troops & wars, some of the most central elements of our histories.

Take the Civil War: as @KevinLevin pointed out the other day, 70% of Northern African Americans volunteered for the USCT regiments. 70%! But for well more than 100 years those 180K soldiers were almost entirely absent from our collective memories & narratives.

Frederick Douglass knew why: “Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, & a musket on his shoulder & bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”

African Americans, like Americans of color from every community, have indeed earned that right many times over—in so many ways, including in courageous & essential military service. That’s true at every stage & moment in our shared history.

So this #VeteransDay, let’s celebrate individuals & communities guaranteed to piss off the exclusionary white supremacists, & more importantly to model an alternative, inclusive America, to embody the best of our ideals & nation.

Along with those I highlighted above, let’s also celebrate communities like the Filipino Americans from Louisiana who fought for the US Army (!) during the Civil War.

philusnavy.tripod.com/fabroscw.htm

Like the WWI African American veterans who returned to fight for democracy at home, as Du Bois described so eloquently in “Returning Soldiers.”

americanyawp.com/reader/21-worl…

Like 21 year old Mexican American immigrant & Vietnam War medic & Medal of Honor recipient Alfred Rascon:

cmohs.org/recipients/alf…

& like the WWII Native American Code Talkers without whom the US would likely never have achieved victory in the Pacific Theater:

americanindian.si.edu/nk360/code-tal…

The history of American military service & veterans is as foundationally & enduringly diverse as all of our history, as our shared story has always been. That’s the best of us, & we vitally need to remember & celebrate it, on #VeteransDay and all year long.

PS. For more on the US Colored Troops as exemplifying these histories, see the vital work of @PhUsct. For more on US military history overall, see the work of @abbymullen (among many others).

PPS. Because my brain is apparently taking a day off, let me add @KellyDMezurek on Civil War soldiers & @mimoyd1 on Black soldiers in WWI to this recommendations!