Lee: Eastwood Omitted Black Troops in WWII Films
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AP, May 21, 2008
Spike Lee is slamming Clint Eastwood over his two recent Iwo Jima movies, saying the filmmaker overlooked the role of black soldiers during World War II.
Lee {snip} said Eastwood’s 2006 movies “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” were whites-only affairs.
“He did two films about Iwo Jima back to back and there was not one black soldier in both of those films,” Lee said Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival {snip}.
“Many veterans, African-Americans, who survived that war are upset at Clint Eastwood. In his vision of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist. Simple as that. . . ,” Lee said.
One black veteran of the 35-day battle aired his grievances about the Eastwood movies in a 2006 interview with The Guardian, a UK newspaper.
“Of all the movies that have been made of Iwo Jima, you never see a black face,” said former marine Thomas McPhatter. “This is the last straw. I feel like I’ve been denied, I’ve been insulted, I’ve been mistreated. But what can you do? We still have a strong underlying force in my country of rabid racism.”
McPhatter said he even had a part in raising the first American flag on the island. “The man who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of pipe from me to put the flag up on,” he told the newspaper.
Almost 900 of the 30,000 marines that stormed the island were African-American.
{snip}
(Posted on May 22, 2008)
Comments
These people are getting the panties twisted over the ‘omission’ of .03% of the troops in that battle? Can anyone tell me how many were frontline combat Joes? “It’s Tuesday, I need something to complain about because I’m black” Give it up already.
Posted by gemalo at 6:03 PM on May 22
Over the next 20 years the African American leaders in conjunction with the far left media will attempt to rewrite the history of WWII. Their goal will be to illustrate to the public that WWII could not have been won without the valor and bravery of the black soldiers. White males will be shown to be cowards and dolts that could only have slowed down the corageous Black soldiers. Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation” will be rewritten over and over to show whites as being in collusion with Germany. We only need this generation of WWII sooldiers to pass into history as they are the only one standing in the way of Hollywood completely rewriting this history.
Posted by Tim at 6:04 PM on May 22
Because “Blacks” may have served during WW 2 in all “Black” labor units that embarked after the beach at Iwo Jima had been secured can be construed as having “stormed” the beach only with a great deal of WW 2 Hollywood imagination.
Of course, that is little different from the first half of the 20th century “historical” movie footage where some faces are darkened in crowds of various kinds and flashed quickly into the footage in order to give viewers the impression that the crowds were “mixed”.
Ronald
Posted by at 6:19 PM on May 22
LOL! I’ve talked with a WWII veteran specifically about the black role in that war. These 900 were not courageous marines storming the island, they were most likely cooks and other support jobs.
Posted by at 6:22 PM on May 22
Well, Spike, I’m sure Clint Eastwood is very upset that he got your panties all in a bunch with his brilliant historical movies about Iwo Jima that weren’t politically correct enough for you. Maybe the black Marines were there, but they were all in their own regiment just on the other side of the hill. The services were still segregated until 1948, you know. Or maybe his movies just happened to show the parts of the battlefield that were controlled by the all-White units that made up 29 out of every thirty Marines on the island. Or maybe Eastwood was trying to suggest Iwo Jima as it might have been filmed if the battle could have actually been dramatized during World War II. Unlikely that any black Marines would have been shown then.
Or maybe you’re just making a mountain out of a molehill, as “professional blacks” like Spike Lee tend to do. I assume you’re a first-rate director yourself, Spike — all the “people that matter” say so — but I think you’re wasting your breath here. Clint Eastwood’s stellar reputation as both actor and director was assured when you were still in grade school. Nothing that you say in criticism of him is going to change that.
Posted by Wayne Engle at 6:38 PM on May 22
During World War Two 708 African Americans were killed in combat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
Posted by at 6:46 PM on May 22
I don’t believe that the Marine Corps had any black combat troops in WW II, and I suspect that if there were any they would have been in segregated units as they were in the US Army.
In actual fact the integration of the Army came about due to the grossly deficient performance of the notorious black 24th Infantry Regiment during the Korean Conflict. The 24th, assigned to the 25th Infantry Division, became known as the “Bug-out Deuce-Four” for their propensity to abandon their positions in the face of communist attacks.
Hearings were held, and the performance of the 24th Regiment was predictably blamed on their segregated status, which in fairness to the black troopers of the 24th was certainly at least a contributing factor to their less than inspired performance. In any event, the men of the regiment were reassigned to other units and integrated, after which they apparently performed adequately for the duration.
Whatever the actual contributions of black servicemen in WW II or Korea, certainly nothing is gained by simply fabricating a false history, as Mr. Lee apparently wishes to do. His version of what happened at Iwo is certainly much farther from the truth than Mr. Eastwood’s.
Posted by JOHN at 6:46 PM on May 22
From Wikipedia:
“The movie has been criticized for omitting black Marines, drawing the ire of a small number of veterans groups. In fact, black Marines are seen in scenes where the mission is being outlined, and during the initial landings - where a wounded black Marine is being carried away. During the end credits historical photographs taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima also show black Marines. This makes the film historically accurate, as although black Marines fought in the battle, they were restricted to auxiliary roles such as ammunition supply. This means that they would not have been involved in the major assaults on the island but would have solely taken part in defensive actions.”
Posted by at 6:46 PM on May 22
“The man who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of pipe from me to put the flag up on,”
No offense to the guy, but those films were about the men fighting, not the ones kickin’ boxes in the rear.
Posted by at 6:55 PM on May 22
Wow! 900 out of 30,000. I know less about the USMC than the army, but during world war two, army units were segregated. Black GIs ended up mostly in support branches, artillery (especially 4.2-inch mortars) and tank-destroyer units equipped with them M-10 and M-18. The USMC was probably run the same way.
The heroism McPhatter claims to have displayed by supplying a piece of pipe strongly suggests that he was in fact a REMF, since the only pieces of pipe combatants carried during WW-2 were Bangalore torpedoes (full of high explosive, these could be screwed together from sections and detonated to remove barbed wire entanglements and the like.)
In closing, I also think it fair to point out that unlike one smartmouth movie director I could name, Mr. Eastwood pays his income taxes.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 7:01 PM on May 22
“Almost 900 of the 30,000 marines that stormed the island were African-American.”
So 3% of the men there were blacks; however, what percentage of that number saw any real fighting? How many of them were merely cooks and other laborers, and how many of them couldn’t even handle that properly under battlefield conditions?
Had Clint Eastwood made a film detailing exactly what blacks had so minimally contributed to this battle, he would still be decried by the Comrade Lees of this world as being a “racist,” who had “distorted” history. Thus, unless he produced a Spike Lee approved “Joint,” that inaccurately portrayed the entire white fighting force being rescued by wise and forgiving blacks, who were regularly tormented by the “bumbling” and “ignorant” honkies up to that point in the “film,” he would still be pilloried.
You can’t win with someone like Comrade Lee and his scurrilous cronies in the media, so why even try?
As always, God help us all!
Posted by John PM at 7:24 PM on May 22
“McPhatter said he even had a part in raising the first American flag on the island. “The man who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of pipe from me to put the flag up on,”
Ahem……..where was he when he handed him this piece of pipe? On a boat, where he also handed out equipment to troops getting ready to go ashore? Blacks were not integrated with the military and were used in support roles such as cooks/bakers/loaders, but nothing serious. The exception was the experimental Tuskeegee Airmen, and the fantastic claims made about their performance is enough, no need to garbage up Iwo Jima with confabulations about a black being part of the heroic flag raising.
Posted by Cliff Yablonski at 8:03 PM on May 22
As an armchair-historian regarding WW2, I have viewed reels and reels of film from every theater in which that war was fought. Generally speaking, Black faces are as rare as hen’s teeth…that is just a fact. Unless the footage is focused specifically upon a Black regt., etc., they just aren’t there. And Black soldiers rarely filled more than support roles in service one way or the other - which in many ways continues to the day. Lee is a White-hating bigot and that is his only motivation.
Posted by HH at 8:24 PM on May 22
900 out of 30,000 is 3%.
Of those 3%, a there would have been mixed race blacks who had fairer skin color.
Even if the film had the correct number of blacks (almost 900 means less than 900) it’s likely they would have been practically invisible in the battle scenes.
Of course, Mr. Lee is free to do his own film from his own perspective.
“The man who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of pipe from me to put the flag up on,” he told the newspaper.
So one of the guys who participated in planning and executing of raising of the flag asked this guy for a piece of pipe which he handed him? Time to re-write the history books.
Posted by sbuffalonative at 8:33 PM on May 22
As I recall the United States Marine Corps was segregated until 1948. If memory serves, those 900 blacks must have been in the United States Navy.
Posted by MS at 8:51 PM on May 22
Um, the army was segregated back then. That is how it was.
To deny that is to deny history. Of course that is exactly what these people want to do!
And of course most minorities were in support/supply roles, cooks, etc.
Funny thing to me is once the armed forces were integrated in the 1950s, we suddenly needed to start all these ‘special forces’ units - with higher skills standards. No shock that these were almost completely white units.
Of course, before integration our entire army was kept to higher standards…
Posted by at 8:51 PM on May 22
Well if that is the case I will be sure to view those two movies! If they want to see black actors they can make their own #@$ films! Perhaps old Spike could get some “great black actor” to star in it like chris rock or chris tucker! Mr Eastwood makes great films and if there is no blacks in them they dont have to be crammed with marxist dogma! Sounds like an enjoyable movie experience!
Posted by Vancouver Steve at 8:52 PM on May 22
Well, if it’s any consolation to this bitter old black man, his descendants are WAY overrepresented in the current pop culture of music, TV and many other films, in comparison to their actual US population makeup.
On another note, has anyone actually seen one of Spike Lee’s films and thought it was anything but proof that affirmative action extends even into film schools?
Posted by ZKR at 8:58 PM on May 22
Black rapes on White women in the armed forces over the course of the last 20 years or so are becoming legendary, not to mention the 34 thousand or so rapes on White women by Blacks in 2005 in the U.S. as a whole, with less than 10 rapes of Black women by White men in the U.S. in the same year. It’s so sad that Clint neglected the overlooked Black contribution to our war effort. Maybe he should pay reparations.
Posted by Go back to . . . at 9:00 PM on May 22
Actually none of the blacks at Iwo were there in a combat capacity, they were all support troops. A few ended up with rifles in their hands and sustained some casualties as well as winning citations but as far as I have been able to determine there were no blacks killed in combat at Iwo. See www.history.army.mil/books/integration/IAF-04.htm.
Posted by mikeh at 9:06 PM on May 22
Since this story broke a couple of days ago I have been revewing the official U.S. military filmed accounts of the battle for Iwo Jima as well as the Universal news reels of the battle which are in the public domain and are generally available. There are no filmed black soldiers. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t any there only that they were there in such small numbers that they weren’t in a position to be filmed for the official record or for the folks at home. The ratio was 1 out of 300 sildiers were black. Comsidering the care that was taken to take a multiethnic flag raising picture. It could only make you wonder how that could be. They even had an American Indian. All we have here are people who are making claims that can’t be substantuated at this late date. Professionial victims.
My father was on a destroyer escort that wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the battlefleets that were headed to Okinawa and so was sent back to Pearl. I have said all my life that his life probably was saved because he was on a slow ship. Because all the destroyer escorts that made it to Okinawa were sunk.
Posted by haradda at 9:08 PM on May 22
McPhatter said he even had a part in raising the first American flag on the island. “The man who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of pipe from me to put the flag up on,” he told the newspaper.
How could such a thing have been overlooked?? His character should have had a starring role in the movie!
Posted by kitty at 9:35 PM on May 22
As I recall, one of the flags hoisted over Mt. Suribachi came from an LST (landing ship, tank). The pipe very likely came from the same LST, which probably puts McPhatter on a noncombatant support ship.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 9:43 PM on May 22
Wow, what a jerk Mr. Lee is. Clint Eastwood is far from being
anti-black. Eastwood produced and directed “Bird” as a labor of
love. If I recall correctly, Charlie Parker was a black man.
Mr. Lee is a professional whiner. If he feels so strongly about this, maybe he should make his own movie about the heroism of
blacks in the military.
Posted by at 9:55 PM on May 22
As an avid AmRen reader, I would like to make a comment that may offend many of you. Whether those blacks that were there hit major fighting or not, they were they were there and they do deserve some recognition. I am sure quite a many of them knew there was an ultimate sacrifice to be paid and some did pay it. There were blacks and even Japanese soldiers who did indeed fight bravely and were not up for awards because of the times. While American Indians and Hispanics did fight, they were not segregated, in fact, a great many of Americans at that time admitted to being at least part Indian. I think we here at Amren dislike the politics around Indians and not Indians themselves.
I come to this web site because I find sensibility in our discussion where as on other sites focusing in discrimination against whites too far off the mark. I like to believe we here at Amren are thinking at higher levels!
While I want to give these black Marines the credit they are due, I can’t help but shaking my head and dismissing that for one simple fact: Spike Lee. He is a guy who has made whites in all of his movies look stupid and weak. All the white women in his films can’t keep their hands off of black men. He is a racist to the bone.
Again, I really want to give these guys the credit, but Spike ruined that for me.
Posted by American Outside at 9:57 PM on May 22
Spike Lee and the professional complainers never get mad enough to leave and go back home. If I perceived I was being treated as poorly as the blacks do I’d be on the first plane back to Liberia. Assuming Liberia has a runway to land the plane.
Posted by W. Smith at 9:58 PM on May 22
Look at what we’ve created. Too many people are hyper-sensitive victims. I don’t care enough to make a fuss. Let it go and live your life quietly and peacefully.
I read James Bradley’s book on raising the flag. If that black man had really been a part of the flag raising in the photo, he’d be raising all hell about the constant media hype and attention that came year after year about their raising that flag. Only one of the flag raisers, who never spoke about the flag raising incident, was able to live a normal life.
Posted by at 10:04 PM on May 22
Wayne Engle: “I assume you’re a first-rate director yourself, Spike — all the “people that matter” say so — but I think you’re wasting your breath here.”
If he’s a first rate director, Wayne, directing must be a pretty easy job, because this guy is a moron, and that’s no exaggeration.
He was interviewed by O’Reilly a while back, and it was very obvious he was on the left side of the Bell Curve by his stupid answers and comments.
For example, O’Reilly asked him why there were so many blacks in prison per their share of the population if whites committed crimes at a higher rate, as he (Lee) maintained. His answer? He said it was because whites had more money and could get out on bond.
The dastardly George Soros created this little mentally challenged jerk, financing him at least in the beginning, as he has done for several other blacks.
But, as to blacks in WWII, the above poster has it right on. They were support troops and truck drivers.
Posted by at 11:53 PM on May 22
During the 70 day battle for Okinawa, Black Marines from support units were used as replacements in the infantry companies. They had nobody else to fill the gaps in the ranks. All Marines were trained as riflemen, and were expected to fight if called upon, but the Blacks weren’t put into the line at Iwo Jima.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 11:56 PM on May 22
Spike Lee is an anti-white, therefore , anti-American treasonous bigot: he has a anti-white, anti-truth bias on his rap sheet, enough said.
Posted by Michigan Patriot at 12:27 AM on May 23
“This is the last straw. I feel like I’ve been denied, I’ve been insulted, I’ve been mistreated. But what can you do? We still have a strong underlying force in my country of rabid racism.”
So, untold thousands of soldiers, black or otherwise, suffered and died for those moments remembered even today when that flag was raised places like Iwo Jima. Then, politicians gave it back saying it was all just for pretend. Thomas McPhatter certain was denied.
Posted by at 4:22 AM on May 23
Think of famous photos from WWII whether it be the soldiers on Omaha Beach, D day when the troops returned home, and one soldier grabbed a nurse off the street and kissed her, or the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, in each case you only see white soldier. My grandfather took numerous pictures when he was overseas during the war, and there was not a black person as far as the eye could see. Spike Lee is exaggerating the role Blacks played in the war, and making it seem as though there were far more of them there, than there were. Flags of our fathers is about the men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, amd Spike expects the film to foucus on blacks, when the men were White, and there were no Black Marines to begin with? Lee is not so far removed from Al Sharpton in that he is a race baiter who looks for any excuse to claim that Blacks are being slighted. He has insinuated the levees in New Orleans were tampered with as a form of ethnic cleansing. And has also stated that a Black woman should have played Cleopatra, and that it was a joke to cast Elizabeth Taylor. Makes more sense to cast an English woman in the role of a Greek woman, than a Sub Saharan African woman. He is a nut job and probably jealous of the critical acclaim Eastwood has received over his latest film endevors.
Posted by at 4:48 AM on May 23
No politically correct blacks placed in a movie just to look good? Fine! I’ll definitely be checking Clint Eastwood’s movies out. Thanks for the article.
Posted by at 7:30 AM on May 23
I followed this Wikipedia link to Wikipedia. To the degree there was discrimination against blacks in World War II I feel awful.
But if this is correct then it eases my mind, considerably, to know that of all the horrible people can put at our feet, at least blacks weren’t widely turned into cannon fodder in World War II if 708 African Americans were killed in combat out of 416,800 U.S. military deaths.
Can that number possibly be right? 708 out of 416,800 is a ridiculously small fraction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
Posted by Guilty Liberal at 9:54 AM on May 23
Spike Lee should make a movie about the 24th Infantry Regiment during the Korean Conflict. When Communists attacked their position, most members of this courageous Black regiment either hid or dropped their weapons and ran screaming from the battle field. Although, to be fair, a few of them stood their ground - and were killed. Reports of this incident spread through the entire military, all the way to Washington, and gave rise to the opinion that “Blacks won’t or can’t fight.”
A parallel can be seen in New Orleans, after Katrina, when African-American police abandoned their duty and went to Walmart to loot. There are photos of uniformed New Orleans police pushing shopping carts loaded with TV’s and jewelry, as they join the other looters getting stuff for free.
Posted by at 10:03 AM on May 23
A few years ago, at the Super Bowl in January or February 2002, I believe, the NFL responded to 9-11 with a “patriotic” half time show. A big float was rolled out re-enacting the flag raising at Iwo Jima. And history was made. Or, rather, rewritten. Because one of the flag raisers was remade into a black. In a few years, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson will go the way of Beethoven. That is, they will be declared “black”. All on the road to erasing White European culture from the face of the earth.
Posted by Deporter at 10:03 AM on May 23
McPhatter, go make your own movie with all the “superfly” stars you can sign.
Rewrite history all you wish, after all that’s the trend in your country. It’s no longer our country, so run with it.
Posted by jdavis at 10:21 AM on May 23
Deporter: “A few years ago, at the Super Bowl in January or February 2002, I believe, the NFL responded to 9-11 with a “patriotic” half time show. A big float was rolled out re-enacting the flag raising at Iwo Jima. And history was made. Or, rather, rewritten. Because one of the flag raisers was remade into a black.”
I am reminded of one item of raging controversy after the Sept. 11 attacks, when a proposed memorial statue was unveiled to commemorate that goosebump-producing photograph of the three NYC firefighters standing reverently on three sides of a makeshift flagpole, running Old Glory up amid the mountains of collapsed concrete, steel, wire, and human remains at Ground Zero… The fevered flap that immediately ensued among patriotic New Yorkers and all of non-Marxist America was the fact that the statue’s designers intended to change two of the firefighters—all of whom were CLEARLY depicted as actually white in the photo—into a black and an hispanic!!
The outcry from those firefighters whose ranks were already badly decimated, and from Americans across the country whose national symbols already suffered the ‘multicultural’ devastation wrought by Middle-Eastern Muslim “aircrews”, was so tremendous and strident that the planners backed down and restored the imagery to its original, melanin-deficient dignity.
That was ONE time that the forces of truth and justice and The American Way prevailed. Let there be many more times as we soldier on.
Posted by VigilantAmerican at 11:36 AM on May 23
Sheer publicity for Lee. It’s what I call “Indirect Publicity”. Lee is not really a hot ticket any longer, and he’s in show biz. So by attacking someone he draws attention to himself, and low and behold, he’s promoting a new release (in another version of this article his latest work is mentioned). This is an OLD trick. The band U2 was good at this. WHILE talking about how much integrity they had the Interviewer describes in the article that a waiter rolls in a room service tray filled with Heineken!!!!! This was all carefully worked out between the band, the magazine, and Heineken and whatever other product that got name dropped.
But in this case we also have the continued promotion of Black Addiction to Grievance, and more MSM, Anti-White Bias. And this too is all carefully arranged by the MSM unit, whatever it happens to be, the person being interviewed, in this case Spike Lee, and the Politics they both serve.
My father was a decorated Staff Seargent who fough on the islands in around Iwo Gima. He never remembered seeing a Black man. That’s not to say they weren’t there. Plus, if he did see any he didn’t register it because he was too busy trying TO STAY ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!
My Lord, these are the most SELF-ABSORBED, SELF-CENTERED, people in the world. Just like their Enablers in the Power Elite. They are picking a fight, and flaunting their sick power, and like all twisted maniacs (though I don’t know many well-adjusted maniacs) they are rubbing our current powerlessness in our face. The system is set up today so that ANY confrontation with a Black will end in our losing, and worse.
Organize, Organize, Organize! In the meantime, don’t permit this moronic liable to continue for one more second!
Posted by Dedalus at 11:43 AM on May 23
from the CoC website:
Mythological claims about the accomplishments of the all black Tuskegee Airmen were recently exposed all fabrications when historians actually researched the claims for a high profile award ceremony last year.
The re-writing of history to suit race hustlers.
by Kyle Rogers
The push is on to create fictional black WWII heroes. “Spike” Lee, a race hustling movie director who’s fame is based mainly on the fact that he is black, attacked Clint Eastwood for not putting fictitious black heroes in his WWII movies.
However, Lee’s true motive is to promote his own Afro-Mythology film on WWII. Spike Lee has directed a movie titled, “Miracle at St Anna” which portrays fictional accomplishments of the all black 92nd Buffalo Division in Italy. Spike Lee is playing the race card to shamelessly promote his new movie.
CofCC.org reported in the past about how mythological accomplishments of the all-black Tuskegee Airmen were exposed as total fabrications.
Cultural Marxists and race hustlers are now claiming that the all black Units of the 92nd Buffalo Division saved the day in Italy during WWII.
In reality, the all black units were only sent into combat late in the war to fight the severely diminished German Army in Northern Italy. They were only used to attack enemy positions after white soldiers had battered the Germans down for months. They were not even deployed overseas until the end of September in 1944, three and a half months after D-Day. They primarily served by participating in patrols along with segregated units from British and French colonies in Africa.
The Division was used twice against the last line of German defenses in Northern Italy late in the war. The so-called Gothic Line. The use of the black troops was supposed to have been a propaganda move to make the black soldiers look good. By this time the Germans were down to poorly outfitted draftees, and their defenses were wearing down fast. Both times the black units fled in disarray and suffered huge disproportionate casualties by the rag-tag remnant of the German army.
The move was similar to Civil War battles in which Union Generals were ordered by the Lincoln administration to use black soldiers. The results were usually a disaster. During the Battle of the Crater, Union Generals received orders demanding that black troops be used in an assault. The black soldiers fell into disarray and the Union lines fell apart leading to a major late war Confederate victory in which the Union suffered 5 casualties for every 1 Confederate.
Another example was made into a movie staring Morgan Freeman called Glory. Two white Union regiments in a row were ordered to charge Fort Moultrie. A black unit was in third, in hopes that the Fort would not survive a third assault and create a chance for a propaganda victory for black union soldiers. Instead, half the black regiment was annihilated by starving, shoeless Confederates who had to scavenge gun powder off dead Yankees just to fire their Muskets.
During the Congressional debate on the integration of the Armed Forces, several US Generals testified on the disastrous performance of the black soldiers in Italy. They said that it would be wrong to place blacks in combat units with whites, because they would not perform at the same level as the whites.
Today the role of blacks in the US military more closely mirrors the Confederate Army than an “integrated” force. Very few black Confederate participated in combat. They served as teamsters, laborers, cooks, and the like.
Today the United State armed forces are disproportionately black. Most estimates claim the armed forces are 20% or more black despite making up about 12.5% of the population as a hole. However, the Elite combat forces, aviators, and high-tech oriented jobs have only token numbers of blacks. Among non-combat service oriented jobs it is not uncommon to see units in the Army that are half black. This despite a massive 60 year effort to “integrate” the military which is still going strong today. I remember about seven or eight years ago when the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps was viciously attacked on national television simply for stating that blacks have trouble passing the marksmanship and the swimming tests at boot camp.
It seems people tend to go to positions that they are most suited for. Why not let blacks serve in ways they are most suited. Why do we have to “integrate” and make up fictional stories about black war heroes that never existed to justify it? Only a tiny percentage of white men would ever be able to qualify to be a Navy Seal. So if an even much smaller percentage of blacks are suitable to be a Navy Seal, why is that such a terrible thing to admit?
Might I remind everyone of the Battle of Blood River in which 146 Dutch farmers armed with muskets and two cannons were attacked by 10,000 Zulus and the Zulu army was crushed?
Posted by at 12:20 PM on May 23
Just more black whine? I don’t hear the Free French or Poles whining because of lack of recognition. What of the underground fighters throughout Europe who received little notice? They don’t whine. And then we have the fighters on the Pacific Islands laying where they fell 60+ years ago. Their relatived aren’t whining. Blacks? Well some whine about anything they can to get the next handout which overshadows the positive contributions many have made to America..
Posted by at 12:21 PM on May 23
“McPhatter said he even had a part in raising the first American flag on the island. “The man who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of pipe from me to put the flag up on,” he told the newspaper.”
_________
No he didn’t. McPhatter’s a liar, plain and simple. He’s a liar.
Posted by at 12:40 PM on May 23
“Lee is not so far removed from Al Sharpton in that he is a race baiter who looks for any excuse to claim that Blacks are being slighted. He has insinuated the levees in New Orleans were tampered with as a form of ethnic cleansing. And has also stated that a Black woman should have played Cleopatra, and that it was a joke to cast Elizabeth Taylor.”
The little numbskull is an Afroc-centric bigot that believes blacks ruled many societies in the past and contributed to humanity in to a great degree. He maintains there is no evidence or proof of that because evil whites covered it all up. He believes Clopatra was black, as Jesus was as well. He believes blacks designed and built the pyramids. He declares that the Sphinx’s nose was shot off by the French in WWII, because it was broad and flat, in spite of the fact that blacks were clearly depicted as slaves in much of the Egyptian art.
If blacks do not steal another group’s accomplishments and holy icons, what can they point to that will indicate that the entire race has accomplished anything at all? What famous black figure can they point to who espoused brilliant concepts and rhetoric?
The answer to all of the above is, of course, nothing and none.
Posted by at 12:44 PM on May 23
Of course those 900 brave Black Men Soldiers couldn’t be at the front— they were too busy digging latrines, peeling potatoes, guarding supplies and shining officiers’ shoes.
Posted by Mom at 12:54 PM on May 23
I think Blacks ARE owed owed an apology. In atonement, Eastwood should do a film about the exemplary BRAVERY of New Orleans’ Black population during and immediately after the Katrina event.
Showing how these fine people forced to loot Wal-Mart stores for designer clothes, electronics and guns… due to lack of otherwise available food and water. Not forgetting either, those ‘brave’ Blacks preying on, or raping each other in the Superdome.
Eastwood should also include a segment on how those fine New Orleans police officers had to steal, sorry I meant ‘borrow’ 28 Cadillacs from a convenient dealership to patrol water-logged and debris-strewn streets after the hurricane. I mean surely we all understand a truck offering comparatively HIGHER ground clearance would hardly be as practical as the average low-slung Cadillac sedan, right?
Seriously. Will these Black WHINERS AND CRYBABIES EVER GROW UP? Segregation in the military was the norm during WWII with Blacks serving mainly in support roles. So their inadvertent omission in this film is understandable! That is, unless Blacks want history re-written to ‘prove’ World War II could not possibly have been won without their contribution!
That display of cowardice by Black troops in Korea pointed out above by one of our readers… I knew a man who was there… and heard his stories about that incident. How officers actually pulled their side-arms trying to stop the Black deserters!
Posted by Fed Up at 12:59 PM on May 23
Blacks get a RIDICULOUS amount of ‘recognition’ for WWII. EVERY single History channel piece on WWII I’ve seen in the last 10 years had at least some mention of black troops, black roles in the military, or of course the Tuskegee airmen.
You’d get the impression from the History channel that 99% of the work done by the US army air forces in WWII were Tuskegee airmen! They flew all the missions!
Posted by at 1:40 PM on May 23
The pipe was on the ground. It was part of a destroyed radio tower.
Years ago, I met one of the 900 black marines from Iwo. He was a cook, and he showed me the ways you could kill a man using a potato peeler. Moral of the story, marine corp REMF are tougher than other peoples REMF.
Just being on Iwo should be considered an honor. The danger was there for everyone. The Japanese did infiltrate the front lines. An ammo dump was blown up and other attacks were made behind the lines. If you were not attacked you were lucky.
Posted by flyingtiger at 2:19 PM on May 23
Whoa! Most of these black “marines” were support troops, i.e., served behind the fighting lines. Blacks were not relied upon due to faltering under fire, running when it got hot and the inability to show any strong reserve under fire.
Spike Lee, you are dreaming a great fantasy, probably due to that stuff you are smoking. Next, you will tell me that, like the Mexican myths, blacks have the highest number of Congressional Medals of Honor of any /racial/ethnic group.
This whole thing can’t pass the smell test.
Posted by Whiteman at 2:59 PM on May 23
Maybe Spike Lee can make a movie starring Will Smith about a black Marine who valliantly hands some white (and an Indian) Marines a pipe and saves the day.
They can even knock down the Iwo Jima monument in Washington DC and put up a statue of a black Marine reaching out with a length a pipe with “uncommon valor was a common virtue” in it’s place.
Posted by at 3:11 PM on May 23
“McPhatter said he even had a part in raising the first American flag on the island. “The man who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of pipe from me to put the flag up on,”
Hell, let’s go all the way back,don’t forget the guys who made the biscuits for breakfast, they helped raise the flag too.
Posted by Cliff Yablonski at 4:42 PM on May 23
Guess now I need to rent the DVDs. Just curious: do actors/directors, etc., get any royalties for that?
Posted by Jane T. at 5:20 PM on May 23
I haven’t done any research concerning the integration of our armed forces, so I may be wrong on this. If you have the Victory at Sea collection, watch the episode entitled, ” Two if by Sea.” It depicts the invasion of Pelileu Island in 1944, five hundred miles east of the Philippines. One brief scene shows a black Marine, rifle in hand, looking at the cameraman. I don’t know if this was actually shot on Pelileu or was taken somewhere else. However, it does show a black Marine in combat gear. As I said, I may be wrong about this, but watch the footage and tell me what you think is happening.
Posted by gee vee at 6:05 PM on May 23
I have a photo of my fathers 1944 Parris Island graduating class. The proportion of blacks in the picture is exactly
zero.
Posted by at 6:07 PM on May 23
Had more blacks actually fought in the battle, then Lee and other black victimologists would have claimed the U.S. Government was trying to exterminate them by committing them to the bloodiest battles. Since a few of them brought up the rear in support roles they can safely claim they were fighting by whitey’s side the whole time without getting any credit.
The government can atone for this grievous wrong by vastly increasing the number blacks in front line combat positions in Afghanistan, Iraq and pending conflicts with Iran and the rest of the solar system. Then again this would invite shrill cries of racism and genocide from Lee and his ilk so I guess can we can’t win for losing.
Since no matter how hard we try we cannot seem to please Lee and and his kind, perhaps they should pick up their toys and emigrate to the African homeland.
Posted by Super Dave at 7:22 PM on May 23
Pops was a replacement in the Battle of the Bulge, arriving just after Christmas of ‘44. He says they were initially driven in a truck by a black soldier. As they approached the front and the sounds of the guns and bombs increased, the truck suddenly pulled over. The black soldier got out and said:”Dis heah’s faw as I’s goin’” and a White soldier got in and drove them the remaining way to the forward action.
Posted by at 10:10 PM on May 23
This reminds me of that ridiculously innacurate movie about World War One flyers, Fly Boys. The promotional poster featured a white flying ace and a black flying ace. At the time I thought that looked funny.
Posted by at 10:20 PM on May 23
PHOTO OF BLACK DESERTERS….Anyone else recall seeing this photo from the Korean War? Its a photo of an entire unit of blacks (24th Infantry?) that surrendered to North Koreans because they didnt want to fight for Whitey. The North Koreans in the photo astonished as the blacks are all smiling and giving thumbs up. Its a big joke to them. Anyone remember this pho
http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/prisoners2.htm
Posted by at 10:38 PM on May 23
I believe the portrayal of a black pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille in “Flyboys” was historically correct. After the escradrille was folded into the USAAC, this black pilot really was taken off flying duty.
The lion was almost historically-correct, but Whisky was a cub, and not a full-grown lion. Moreover, there were two cubs; the second was named Soda.
The absolutely ridiculuous part of “Flyboys” was the anachronistic airplanes. Remeber first that the movie is set *before* the USA declared war in March 1917. The British at the airbase are flatly referred to as flying SE-5a’s, which did not enter service until June, 1917. At that time, the RFC pursuit units would have been equipped with Nieuport 11s and 17s as well, plus SPAD-VIIs, Sopwith Pups, Airco DH-2s and Royal Aircraft Factory FE-8s. The Fokker Dr-I triplane the Germans are universally shown to be using did not enter service until August 16, 1917 five or six months after the time in which the movie was set. The first two at the front were preproduction versions, #102/17 (given to Manfred von Richtofen) and #103/17 (given to Werner Voss). Voss scored the first triplane victory on August 30, 1917, and Richtofen the second, on September 1. The German pursuit units would have been flying Albatros D-IIs and D-IIIs, along with the older Halberstadt D-IIs and Fokker D-IIs on this front at this time.
Additionally, the Germans did not make daylight raids with Zeppelin airships; they were simply too vulnerable to anti-aircraft guns.
Good cinematography, weak plot, and for an aviation buff, historically very disappointing.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 11:26 PM on May 23
True Story about Spike Lee (in 1993). But I’ll make it short.
Lee was driven around town by a Limo Co. driver who had Denzel Washington as a regular. The driver was Jewish and Spike routinely said to him “Don’t Jew me on the fare…don’t Jew me.”
But the driver shrugged it off. Then during this time the driver had a very wealthy and well-known Southern lady (though I had never heard of her). She was Old School South. Exquisite manners and taste (drivers words) and he liked her. So, one day while driving around she spoke openly, but with no hatred or name calling and said that it was clear that Jews ran the country and regularly used Blacks as a device against Whites. She knew the driver was Jewish and invited him to speak his mind and join the conversation. He said he wouldn’t enter their little chat unless he could bring a rock.
I asked him why it was ok for Spike Lee to talk to him like that, especially in such a crude, racist, and disprespectful manner, and not ok for the woman to express her views as long as she was polite. And if he thought she was wrong, she was giving him the chance to enlighten her, so, why pass up the chance to speak your mind instead of implying violence?
The conversation ended abruptly and he never spoke to me again.
Posted by Mal Evans at 12:14 AM on May 24
The marines in WW II were an amphibious organization. Each division had a battalion devoted to unloading supplies from the beachhead and bringing the supplies to the front lines. In the last half of the war, Blacks were assigned to these units. The work was had and dangerious and you could be shot at. At Pelileu, a number of blacks were awarded medals for valor. Pelileu was another horrible battle. Just being there was an honor.
Posted by flyingtiger at 2:14 AM on May 24
Eastwood has finally responded to Spike Lee’s remarks, while giving an interview to a German magazine. In it, he says Lee needs to study his history before he starts mouthing off. He points out that during this time frame, blacks were segregated, and that the only time blacks were brought to the beach of Iwo Jima is when a small group of them were sent there as an munition supply unit.
Posted by at 5:21 AM on May 24
Black race baiters have grown so accustomed to having things handed over to them any time they pull the race card, that many now want us to hand our history over to them as well. Forget accuracy in films which are intended to depict true life events in history, and paint everyone black. They are more of less getting away with this in the classroom now as more and more public schools and colleges give way to Afrocentrism, and revisionism. Now they want Hollywood to yeild to their demands. And have Black men fighting valiently on the beaches of Iwo Jima and helping to raise the flag. Where does it end? Either way, I am glad Spike Lee singled out Clint Eastwood, because the man is old school, and I mean this in the most complementary way possible. He is not one to hang his head in shame, and apologize. He stands by his beliefs, and will tell an idiot like Spike Lee what an uneducated fool he really is.
Posted by at 6:22 AM on May 24
When one of his films is about the white men whose raised the flag in Iwo Jima, and the other is about the Japanese imperial army, Spike Lee is an absoulte lunatic to be whinning that Blacks have been deined their rightful recognition.
Posted by at 6:44 AM on May 24
Posted by Deporter,
In a few years, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson will go the way of Beethoven. That is, they will be declared “black”.
It is already happening.
http://www.diversityinc.com/public/3085.cfm
Posted by Jimmy Stubbs at 7:17 AM on May 24
I think Clint Eastwood should issue an immediate and sorrowful apology while on his hands and knees - crying real tears might be helpful. Then he should whip out his checkbook and write a big fat check to some minority cause and then write several more checks to all those black soldiers and their heirs. Oh and he could also write a check to Spike Lee to fund his next anti-white movie. That should do it!!!!
Posted by Gayle Sollenberger at 8:17 AM on May 24
“Spike Lee is a lunatic to be whining that blacks have been denied their rightful recognition.”
—6:44 AM
I am very sorry, but the people on the other side in the Pacific War were not black, either. Please do not make the mistake of suggesting again that they were.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 1:14 PM on May 24
It is the unfortunate lot of soldiers to fall in battle. The more combat a soldier sees, the more chance he has of dying. WWII has a total of 418,500 deaths. 708 of them were black, that means 519 whites dying for one black. That also means that whitey
fought 519 times as much. End of argument.
Posted by ciccio at 2:48 PM on May 24
I have already had a debate with a Black poster on another website who felt it necessary to inform me that were it not for the efforts of African American in WWII, that all Whites would be speaking German today, and that Japan would have over-taken the US. It is never enough for Blacks to be acknowledged for their contributions (however small) They must always, paint themselves as the true conquering heroes. Even in non-Black countries where the numbers are a meager 3%. Even worse, they expect all Whites to ignore the facts, and agree with them, while they rewrite history to flatter their enormous and unquenchable egos.
Posted by at 8:08 PM on May 24
“were it not for the efforts of African American in WWII, all Whites would be speaking German today, and that Japan would have over-taken the US. …. they expect all Whites to ignore the facts, and agree with them, while they rewrite history to flatter their enormous and unquenchable egos.”
—————————————-
Most interesting.
And so, not only do we learn that “blacks built America”, now we learn that they also saved it. Such is the new revisionist history that your grandchildren will be learning someday.
Well, we already know that blacks invented civilization. What next?
Posted by voter at 11:06 PM on May 24
I am very sorry, but the people on the other side in the Pacific War were not black, either. Please do not make the mistake of suggesting again that they were.
*My post was the one you were addressing, and how did I imply that? I was pointing out that Letters from Iwo Jima was about the Imperial Japanese Army, While Flags of our Fathers focused on the 6 (White men) who raised the American flag in Iwo Jima, and how utterly ridiculous it is for Spike Lee to see a Black cast in either.*
Posted by at 11:50 PM on May 24
My wife’s great-grandfather wasn’t just some random nonwhite who was told to hussle up and pick up a Garand. We have film footage of him hitting “his” aircraft carrier.
This was done on both sides, probably by a US Marine pilot first. The burnt - out wreck of IJN Mikuma after Midway shows the wreckage of a USMC SB-2U Vindicator bomber on the raised turret aft. The burning gasoline from this airplane was sucked down Mikuma’s ventilators and killed the whole wngine room crew.
A white American man did that.
There was a guy who was awarded the CMH twice. White. The three British guys who got the VC twice (that is a VC with bar) were white. One of them even lived.
My wife’s great-grandfather didn’t even get the Wooden Cross.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 12:38 AM on May 25
I am terribly sorry, Ciccio, but WW-2 has far more than 418,000 deaths. It was closer to 60 million, more than half of whom were Russian. Germany alone lost six million, and that was KIA on the battlefield. Russia lost 22 million soldiers. Japan lost 1.2 million soldiers as well as 400,000 sailors and 700,000 civilians. China lost over ten million. In Britain, about 1/3 of everyone who served in the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy or British Army was killed or maimed.
It was the worst thing people could do to each other.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 2:50 AM on May 25
The Battle of Stalingrad in late 1942 to early 1943 saw over 2,500,000 people killed in one city in six months. No blacks.
On the first day of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, 60,000 Britons were killed. No blacks. This battle both depopulated Scotland and Wales, but completely ruined the pre-1914 German army. The US only lost about 56,000 during the entire Vietnam war.
Belgium lost about 1/3 of all men between 15 and 45 killed. Serbia, Turkey and Scotland each lost about 50%. The Serbs and Turks lost men mostly from typhus, and the Scots mostly from artillery and machinegun fire. They were reckoned very good at attacking.
Posted by Michaer C. Scott at 3:16 AM on May 25
The blacks even stole Kojack,Ralph Kramden, and the Wizard of Oz there is a saying imitation is the sincerist form of flatterery Why do so many black females become “Watts blondes”? Now they want to be war heros. The toughest and best fighting men are from the south ever read about Audie Murphy or Alvin York? This is a desperate people who lack a real culture and have very little self esteem. They can steal our TV characters but not our war heros The white male of the USA has payed a very high price in blood to keep our nation free. The likes of Spike Lee have no right to steal our heritage. I will keep fighting.
Posted by Burr Hamilton at 5:13 AM on May 25
“Bug-out Deuce-Four”
I ran a few Web searches and perused a few articles and what stuck out most is that the most damning anecdote of all seemed to get the most attention - the 24th’s own “bug out” song; it’s basically an admission of guilt by the soldiers of the 24th themselves.
It’s funny to read the mental gymnastics the white PC scribblers must employ to explain away the “bug out” song: it’s a black “blues song,” blacks use self-deprecating humor that goes over white heads (obviously inane to any honest white man familiar with blacks, as the opposite is true), it was just a joke, etc.
What kind of unit elevates a “joke” about its own cowardice into a regimental song, to the point that PC revisionists don’t even try to deny its existence, or popularity within the unit? Sounds like the 24th was proud of its cowardice and lack of morale (not hard to believe of a unit of black draftees fighting a “white man’s war”).
Conveniently, all-black combat units are now a no-no (de facto all-white combat units are a fact on the ground; blacks today tend to avoid combat units, a bit of contemporary evidence that jibes with the “racist” evaluations of the Korean War-era military), and the scribblers ignore this as they laud modern black soldiery in the absence of Evil White Racism.
Posted by Svigor at 1:10 PM on May 25
Michael C. Scott;
I don’t like to nitpick, but some of your figures are incorrect.
Soviet military deaths were about 12 million, not 22 million. This figure includes about three of five million Soviet POW’s who the Nazis starved, beat and worked to death.
Also 60,000 Britons were not killed on the first day of Verdun. I presume you mean the Somme offensive. Almost 60,000 total casualties were taken on that first day, some 19,000+ of which were fatalities.
Posted by at 1:15 PM on May 25
8:08PM on 05/24,
Sir, it’s my opinion that the time for talk with blacks has long since past. We shouldn’t be trying to sway them to our opinions any more. There is only one way for this to be settled anymore and it isn’t with words. Too bad, but they wouldn’t/couldn’t listen to reason.
Tom Iron…
Posted by Tom Iron at 1:17 PM on May 25
My cousin who fought in world war two and the Korean war winning medals in both wars encluding the bronze star told me that blacks were the worst cowards he had ever encounterd in the Korean conflict. This is well known by our military but the government won’t allow the release of the records.
Posted by Snapjack at 7:13 PM on May 25
Wait till the last of the World War II veterans die off and we’ll be hearing all sorts of absurd tales.
Posted by at 11:01 PM on May 25
The first black Marines of the Pacific war to be deployed in large numbers on the front line were members of the 16th Field Depot during the battle for Peleliu island (Sept-Nov 1944). In the initial days of the invasion, Colonel Puller’s 1st Marines suffered a 60% casualty rate during attacks on the entrenched Japanese holed up in their 200-plus caves in the Umorbrogol - the infamous Bloody Nose Ridge in the center of the island. The Marine commanders decided to bring in a regimental combat team from the Army’s 81st Infantry Division, but they were still involved in operations on Angaur island five miles away and would not be ready for action on Peleliu for at least another week. In the meantime, the command asked for volunteers from support personnel to hold the lines on the southwest end of the ridge until the Army could come ashore. A few dozen Marines combat engineers - mostly amphibious tractor crewmen who had little to do since most of their craft were destroyed during the initial assault - signed on, as well as a hundred or so black Marines from the 16th Field Depot. The high command and later historians generally agreed that the engineers and black Marines did an admirable job of maintaining the front until the Army arrived to finish the battle which would go on for another two months.
If Spike Lee had done his homework instead of conveniently criticizing Eastwood to advance his own selfish, bigoted purposes, he might have heard of the 16th Field Depot on Peleliu and put together a screenplay about them.
Posted by Francis at 1:02 AM on May 26
You’re right about the Somme, and wrong about Russia. The Soviets massively understated their losses after the war, just to avoid being seen as weak in the postwar era.
A Russian I once worked with didn’t have a father or an older brother. She grew up not knowing anyone who had a father, and she didn’t even know anyone who knew anyone who had a father.
Their willingness to accept casualties was exceeded only by Japan. Japan lost 1,200,000 soldiers, 400,000 sailors (!) and about 900,000 civilians. How does a navy lose 400,000 sailors?
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 5:39 AM on May 26
I have already had a debate with a Black poster on another website who felt it necessary to inform me that were it not for the efforts of African American in WWII, that all Whites would be speaking German today, and that Japan would have over-taken the US. It is never enough for Blacks to be acknowledged for their contributions (however small) They must always, paint themselves as the true conquering heroes. Even in non-Black countries where the numbers are a meager 3%. Even worse, they expect all Whites to ignore the facts, and agree with them, while they rewrite history to flatter their enormous and unquenchable egos.
Posted by at 8:08 PM on May 24
This is not surprising. Let’s see if I have this all straight:
Africa is the cradle of civilization
The original Eve was a black woman
Blacks were creating nations while whites were still in caves
Blacks are the real decendants to the Egyptians
Africans migrated north all the way to what is now Europe and are responsible for the arts and history of Spain
Blacks were brought to America in chains but built the nation
Jesus was really a black man
Blacks were responsible for winning WWII
The Gulf War was a black victory
Without blacks, we wouldn’t have air conditioning, lawn mowers, traffic lights, washing machines or peanut butter
And these are the ones I can remember.
What I can’t understand is that with all this great knowledge they seem to have, why are black nations the poorest in the world and why is the United States headed towards the same outcome. Where the heck did all that knowledge and greatness go?
Posted by Gayle Sollenberger at 8:14 AM on May 26
8:08PM on 05/24,
Sir, it’s my opinion that the time for talk with blacks has long since past. We shouldn’t be trying to sway them to our opinions any more. There is only one way for this to be settled anymore and it isn’t with words. Too bad, but they wouldn’t/couldn’t listen to reason.
Tom Iron…
Posted by Tom Iron at 1:17 PM on May 25
Yep. Exactly. Those of us who have lots of experience with blacks, ie; those of us who have something the MSM and the rest of the Elite don’t, know full well that blacks are the most hard-headed, inflexible people around. They are loud, unsymptathetic, repetetive, obnoxious, heartless, and violent. Oh, and they’re, how shall I put this, they’re not as smart as they think they are (if hear one more of them, like Cornell West, causualy refer to Obama as “brilliant” I’m going to plotz. Didn’t even the MSM refer to Collin Ferguson, the Long Island Train shooter, as “brilliant”).
I maintain, however, that, though we SHOULD begin to organize, and that we should do so ignoring what the MSM says about us, they will do to us what they did to those people in Ruby Ridge and Waco. Of course, that is exactly WHY they did what they did to those people. You know what though? It’s going to get to the point where people will organize anyway. Because only a dog could go on living like this.
Posted by at 11:00 AM on May 26
I agree with you Tom. These people are destroying America and these attempts to make them “equal” by lowering everything to the lowest common denominator have been disastrous. We need to stop capitulating to them in a vain attempt to create some sort of illusion of unity. We don’t need them but they need us and it’s time we started flexing some muscle.
Posted by at 3:36 PM on May 26
Please ignore Mr. Lee. I had a couple of encounters with him in my youth. He is an out and out racist, an oppotunist and not very smart to boot.
Posted by the way at 4:54 PM on May 26
Iwo Jima was a 35 day battle. The movie Flags of our father’s was a tightly focused story on the six men who raised the flag. The book the movie was based upon was written by James Bradley the son of John Bradley one of the three men who raised the flag that survived the battle. By the way one of the men who raised the flag, Ira Hayes, was Native American and was portrayed by a native Canadian actor of Saulteaux descent, Adam Beach. Considering this was a tale about a man’s father and his personal experiences on Iwo Jima I think (since the Marines were a segregated force..) that it would be disingenuous to toss in a major for a black actor since it would not be true to the book or the story. (There were by the way Blacks in the movie, there was a scene some 16 minutes into the film where a Marine captain characterized by the actor Neil McDonough says in his shipboard briefing to the gathered marines that the “28th Marine regiment will land at Green beach, and the 8th Ammunition Company will landed here.” The camera then shifts to a shot of several black marines who are listening to the briefing.)
There are many films directed by Clint Eastwood where Blacks actors play important or centrals roles. “Bird”, about the Black Jazz musician Charlie Bird; “The Unforgiven”, Eastwood’s character’s close friend in the film is played by Black actor Morgan Friedman. Friedman again appears in an important role in Million Dollar Baby. Isiah Washington plays a condemned Black man in “True Crime” Those are just the films that I remember, the idea that Eastwood deliberately left out roles for Blacks (that the story called for..) in “Flags of our Father’s” is a ridiculous.
One of the posters wondered if any Blacks were killed on Iwo Jima apparently yes, two: Eleven black enlisted Marines and one of the white officers were wounded, two of the enlisted men fatally.
http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2008/05/lee_eastwood_om.php
Given that 6,821 American troops lost their lives on Iwo Jima
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima
and of those troops only two were Black (would be .029%) It would seem Blacks did not play a important combat role on Iwo Jima. Potentially in other battles (Pelileu Island) but not Iwo Jima.
Posted by Stillwarm at 2:26 AM on May 27
There was even some complaining going on after the release of the movie Titanic because of it’s White Eurocentric cast. History and truth seem to mean nothing to some of them. If they are excluded from a film which is intended to depict a historical event, and it’s one Blacks were not a part of, some will still cry racism, if they are left out. I don’t know if it is out of a need for constant attention? Or if they just like another excuse to try and impose more white guilt by going on about how they are being overlooked and denied? Probably both! But it’s a joke how so many of them are happy to rewrite history, and shrug off accuracy, so long as they are included. And in the most flattering light of course.
Posted by at 6:26 AM on May 27
It HAS TO BE genetic… the tendency of Blacks to be the useless, dysfunctional sociopaths and failures they collectively are. Why else would Blacks whine about not being depicted in events they had virtually NO actual part in?
Blacks appear to be hopeless losers throughout the entire world. Habitually shooting themselves in the foot with their actions, mentality, their chosen lifestyle. LOOK at them… look at their children attending public schools. Look at the symbols of Black ‘culture’… rap music, gangasta culture workship. Look at the inner-city slums, the mindless destruction and vandalism by Blacks. The incredible squalid, sorry state of affairs in every AFRICAN nation today. Then show incontrovertible proof if you want to blame anyone other than Blacks for it.
Posted by Fed Up at 1:41 PM on May 27
“My cousin who fought in world war two and the Korean war winning medals in both wars encluding the bronze star told me that blacks were the worst cowards he had ever encounterd in the Korean conflict. This is well known by our military but the government won’t allow the release of the records.”
This is pretty much, word for word, the same story I got from my older brother after his, purple heart awarded, one year front line combat duty in Viet Nam.
Posted by DTF at 7:12 PM on May 27
“The man who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of pipe from me to put the flag up on,”
Wrong. The pipe was part of the water supply system the Japanese had run across the island and up Mt. Suribachi.
It was found on the ground.
Posted by at 12:43 AM on May 28
“There was even some complaining going on after the release of the movie Titanic because of it’s White Eurocentric cast.
Posted by at 6:26 AM on May 27”
You should have seen the gnashing of teeth and hysterics from libs when they seen the casting for Lord Of The Rings.
Posted by Danny at 5:32 PM on May 28
This story seems to have fired up an enormous amount of debate all over the internet. And happily, many whites are expressing their outrage and disapproval over Spike Lees ignorant remarks. It appears that whites are fed-up of having blacks trying to claim their history, and are also fed-up with their endless demands for recognition.
Posted by at 7:11 PM on May 28
*One of the posters wondered if any Blacks were killed on Iwo Jima apparently yes, two: Eleven black enlisted Marines and one of the white officers were wounded, two of the enlisted men fatally.*
For many Blacks that is all they need to know! Even if 2 black men died along with thousands of white men, that is enough reason for them to expect blacks to be lionized for it. And for Eastwood to show it in his film.
Posted by at 7:21 PM on May 28
Perhaps Mr. Lee wanted some black Japanese being told to go out and die or else their families would be ashamed of them, or that their wives and daughters would be raped by black US servicemen if they lost the war, and so they fought tooth-and-nail aginst us.
I would do that for my mother, my sister, my wife and my daughter.
Would you?
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 9:12 PM on May 28
Is he implying that Clint Eastwood is a racist? The real racist here is Spike Lee. Watch his film version of Malcom X (if you can stand it) and see what kind of belief he embraces at the end of his movie.
My congratulations to you Mr. Eastwood for making one of the best World War 2 movies ever made, “Letters from Iwo Jima”.
By the way, the 1997 film version of Titanic didn’t have any black people in it either, but out of the roughly 2100 people on board when it sank, it may have had one black person on it. So by ignoring the one black person who was on board when this movie was made, did it make the film makers racist? I guess so according to Spike Lee, lol.
Posted by Save America at 9:01 PM on June 4
Sorry Spike but there weren’t any blacks at Iwo Jima. Old devil whitey did contemplate letting you fight but we figured everytime a general would yell “we’re under attack-get down!” you brothers would started dancing!
Posted by at 9:57 PM on June 4