before i lose my style

milkeemountainmama:

This started as a “side note” to another post, but i felt like it didn’t belong at that post when i was done, so here it is existing all by itself!

there was a significant population of black and chican@ people (and I’m sure there were other races, but these are the two I am most aware of) who refused to serve during WW2 because segregation was still law of the land in the US. and they felt like if i’m not a full citizen, why am i going to die for you? It’s interesting to me that even today those people who refused service are still ignored in media/story telling in favor of those who were treated wrong, but served anyway because they were just that patriotic and loving of the US. I think it’s time to really interrogate the juxtaposition of loving Mohammad ali and considering him a hero for refusing service in the 60s—but completely invisibilizing those who were of the “greatest generation’ and said No to the “greatest war”—

why does it always feel like that at least when it comes to rewriting positive narratives around masculinity for men of color, one of the most sure fire ways to do that is create a movie about service in WW2? rather than, say, doing as edward james olmos did so many years ago, creating a movie about the zoot suiters. who first and foremost, existed as a critique to the hyper nationalism running rampant during the 40s?

i mean, i’ve seen this over and over and over again, like when Ken Burns’ The War came out, latinos were all up in arms because “we served too!” and yes we did, and we don’t deserve erasure. but why is that linking of masculinity to nationalism so freaking important? and why don’t i see us similarly up in arms over our place in vietnam or korea? (i’m leaving out the iraq wars and afghanistan because frankly, i haven’t seen any of the movies/literature created around those).

This is probably a rhetorical question, but for those reading this who don’t know the answer, it’s easier to tell stories within pre-existing cultural narratives, so the idea of rejecting service is more easily told in a Vietnam War context. World War II and its aftermath reshaped the United States in so many significant and “positive” ways that it’s become the exemplar of “good” war, and telling stories that oppose that narrative requires so much re-education that you can barely get any story in. Even the ways in which the war has been complicated are “softened,” as though, for example, Japanese internment camps only existed because we had racist grandparents. 

(Source: marshmallowmegamama)