Hellfighters

African-Americans served in the military in this country, even before it was a country.  The first man killed in the lead-up to the Revolutionary War was a free black in Massachusetts named Crispus Attucks; he died in 1770 as a result of what came to be known as the Boston Massacre.  Nearly a century later, the first all-black regiment in the United States, the Massachusetts 54th (immortalized in the film Glory), was first accepted, and then renowned.  Similarly, many of us have heard of World War II outfits like the Tuskeegee Airmen.  But only recently did I learn about black soldiers making a name for themselves in World War I.  They were the Harlem Hellfighters.

One reason the Hellfighters are so infrequently mentioned in our history is that they were part, not of the U.S. military, but rather of the French Army.  They were an infantry regiment, designated the 369th.  They helped repel the German offensive in 1917, and helped launch a counteroffensive. They spent a total of 191 days in combat, longer than any other American unit in the war, and were the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine.  Many of them were awarded the Croix de Guerre, the French analog to our Medal of Honor.

I offer this historical thumbnail only as rebuttal to the idea, put forward by those like my neighbors across the road, that this country belongs to them alone, and they want it back (from whomever they imagine has acquired it unfairly).

It was never theirs alone.  It belongs to anyone who cherishes ideas like those in the First Amendment.  It belongs to everyone - folks like my grandparents from the Carpathian mountains, and my students from Bangladesh and Palestine - who emigrated because of the circumstances laid out by Emma Lazarus in The New Colossus.