A Soldier’s Story
“Those Klan boys can’t stand to see us in these uniforms. They usually take the stripes and stuff
off before they lynch us.” (Priv. Wilkie)
“They ain’t too crazy about us tan Yanks down here.” (Corp. Ellis)
“These local people are not going to charge a white man on your say-so.” (Capt. Taylor)
“You go near Tynin in your uniform, sounding white, and charging local people and
you’re going to wind up just as dead as Waters.” (Taylor)
“White people won’t see their duty, justice. They’ll see you.” (Taylor)
“Worst thing you can do in this part of the country is pay too much attention to the death
of a Negro man under mysterious circumstances, especially a soldier. People get itchy,
uneasy. . . . You keep turning this thing over, sooner or later, you’re bound to have an
explosion.” (Col. Nivens)
“I’m trying to prevent my colored troops from going into that backwater town and killing
someone.” (Nivens)
“You’re the first colored officer most of these men have seen. The Army expects you to
set an example and be a credit to your race.” (Nivens)
“It sure is good to see one of us wearing captain’s bars.” (Ellis)
“Haven’t you ever seen a colored officer before?”
“No, sir! Have you, sir?!”
“I never saw a Negro until I was 12 . . . or 13.” (Taylor)
“I sure hope we get to fight soon. Next thing they’ll have us picking this year’s cotton crop.”
(Ellis)
“Anything you don’t want to do, the colored troops will do for you.”
“This country is at war, and you niggers is soldiers. Nothin’ else.” (Waters)
“They want one army.” (C.J.)
“You can forget that . . . . White folks aren’t never gonna integrate no army.” (Peterson)
“When the white man says jump, I jump.” (Wilkie)
“The goddamn nigger was disrespectful. No way does a colored soldier speak to a white
officer like that.” (Lt. Wilcox)
“You gotta be like them but the rules are fixed.”
“[B]esides, colored people are not that devious.” (Taylor)
“What kind of colored man are you?” (Peterson)
“I am a soldier . . . and the kind of colored man who doesn’t like lazy, shiftless Negroes.”
(Waters)
“Colored folks always running off at the mouth about what they’re going to do if the
white man give them a chance. . . . I don’t blame the white man [for how he sees
Negroes] . . . .” (Waters)
“See, when this war’s over things are going to change . . . . I’m sending [my son] to
some big white college, let him rub elbows with the whites. . . . [W]hat are we going to
do [if not that]? Stay behind in everything? Hell, you can see it in the Army. White man
running rings around him. . . . My daddy shoveled coal from the back of a wagon all his
life, couldn’t read or write but he saw to it that we did. Now, not having is no excuse for
not getting.” “You’re just like the rest of them [Negroes] – ignorant, scared. Stop
thinking like a nigger.” (Waters)
“. . . bowing and scraping, smiling in white folks’ faces. This man undermines us, you
and me, everybody. That ‘ya-sah boss’ is hiding’ somethin’, Are we like that today? In
1944?” (Waters)
“He’s the kind of boy who seems innocent. Got everybody on the post thinkin’ he’s a
strong black buck. White boys envy his strength, his speed, power in his swing. And this
colored champion lets those same white boys call him Shine and Sambo. And he just
smiles. Can’t talk. Can barely read or write his own name. And don’t care. He’ll tell
you they like him or that colored folks ain’t supposed to have but so much sense. Do you
know the damage one ignorant Negro can do?” (Waters)
“I don’t plan on our race to be cheated out of its place of honor [by men like C.J.]
.” (Waters)
...
“The first war didn’t change nothing for the Negro. But this one gonna change
everything. The black race can’t afford you no more. Oh, there used to be a time we’d
see someone like you – singin’, clownin’, ya-sah bossin’ – and we wouldn’t do anything.
Folks like that, You were good, homey kind of nigger. When they needed someone to
mistreat, call a name or two, they paraded you. Reminded them of the good old days.
Not no more. The day of the guichee is gone, boy. And you’re going with it. We can’t
let nobody go on believin’ we all fools like you. . . . Now I got you. One less fool for the
race to be ashamed of.” (Waters)
“We were in France in the first war. We’d won decorations. But the white boys had told
all them French gals that we had tails. They then found this ignorant colored soldier.
Paid him to tie a tail to his ass, run around half naked making monkey sounds. They put
him on a big round table in the Café Napoleon, put a reed in his hand, crown on his head,
blanket on his shoulders, and made him eat bananas in front of all them Frenchies. Oh,
the white boys danced that night. Passed out leaflets with that boy’s picture on it. Called
him ‘Moonshine, king of the monkeys.’ You know, when we slit his throat, you know
that fool asked us what he had done wrong.” (Waters)
“I know who I is. . . . Any man who ain’t sure where he belongs must be in lots of pain.” (C.J.)
“White boys. All starched and stiff. Wanted everybody to learn that symphony shit. . . .
You know, I listened to it. Am I all right now? Am I? . . . I ain’t doin’ nothin’ white
folks say to. No more! . . . . I always mind ya. Look what it’s done to me! I hate myself!
. . . My daddy said, don’t talk like this, talk like that. Don’t say ‘ain’t’; say ‘isn’t.’ I even
killed for you.”
“Who gave you the right to judge, to decide who is fit to be a Negro?” (Davenport)