The Tuskegee Airmen
Benjamin O Davis’ speech to the (all white) Senate Committee regarding the cancellation of the Tuskegee project.
All we asked for was a chance to prove ourselves.
A fair and impartial opportunity.
We thought we had that chance.
But you invite us to a poker game, hand us a fixed deck...
and then wonder why we can't win?
Every colored pilot in the unit went through his own private hell
to wear those wings.
Each of those men carry not only the dream
of becoming American Military Aviators... but the hopes
of an entire people as well.
Am I the only one here that understands what that means?
I was brought up to believe that beneath it all...
Americans are a decent people with an abiding sense of
integrity and fair play.
The cheers I heard across this country when Joe Louis and Jesse Owens humiliated Hitler's "Master Race"...didn't just come from proud colored folks.
They came from everyone.
How are we to interpret that?
As a United States Army Officer who gladly puts his life on the line everyday...there's no greater conflict within me.
How do I feel about my country?
And how does my country...feel about me?
Are we only to be Americans when the mood suits you?
A fair and impartial opportunity is all we ask.
Nothing that you yourselves wouldn't demand.