Zinn’s chapter, “A people’s War?” as well as the article “World War Two Was Not A Just War,” changed my perspective on the United States involvement and contributions to World War II. I had previously thought and been told that America did a good job in this war and contributed heavily to the freeing and helping of imprisoned Jews in Germany. However, both the chapter and the article proved otherwise. I was also surprised, but by no means shocked to find out that blacks were still treated so unfairly in America during World War II.
Our country really didn’t advance before, during, or after World War II. War times are times when a country should be all hands on deck in giving the country the best tools and supplies for success. However, Zinn says, “Despite the urgent need for wartime labor, blacks were still being discriminated against for jobs,” and “Roosevelt never did anything to enforce the orders of the Fair Employment Practices Commission he had set up,” (Zinn 415). The fact that even in the country’s biggest times in need, during a World war, people and our own leader couldn’t get over their discriminations and biases, saddens me. Beyond this, proof that America did not advance before, during, or after the war is the 1960s in America. The rebellions in all aspects of life prove that the citizens were incredibly unhappy and felt the need to lash out in any way they could against the government.
I also was saddened to read about how blacks were treated during the war in the military and at home. There was a great need for jobs and positions, but there was still segregation and discrimination that made it difficult for blacks to see the purpose in fighting for the army. My eyes were opened to the similarities between the history of the U.S and the actions that they claimed to be fighting against in the war. There was serious anti-semitism in Germany and throughout Europe which is not much different from the treatment of blacks throughout U.S history.
I was also aggravated to hear how poorly the United States still treated black people during a time when the nation needed to be united the most. Our nation seems to have a pattern of implementing laws that are targeted at reducing systemic discrimination, yet analyzing how the U.S. actually enforced these law shows that no progress towards equality was actually made.