The Black Officer Corps by Isaac Hampton II

Author:Isaac Hampton II [Hampton, Isaac II]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415531924
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2012-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

The Department of Defense Takes Action

The race riots in 1967 and 1968 in Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, and Washington D.C., and at U.S. military installations “in unrelated corners of the globe” forced DoD to implement serious pro-active race relation programs that would dampen racial tension in the military before racial conflict further compromised the mission of the armed forces. Collectively in the 1960s, racial civil disorder, both violent and non-violent, led to the creation of the DoD Directive 1100.15 in December of 1970. Research on the status of race relations in the military conducted by Air Force Colonel Lucius Theus, an African American, for DoD in the summer of 1970 played a role in DoD’s decision. His findings recommended an education program on race relations for the entire military. The armed forces at this time were in no hurry to implement this type of program, but it did take into account Theus’ findings.69

In August of 1970, Frank Rearden III, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for equal opportunity, was ordered by President Richard Nixon to lead an investigative team to West Germany to examine the root causes of racial complaints among black service members. Rearden’s report to Nixon revealed that the major causes were the failure of many commanders to monitor “equal opportunity provisions” and enforce military regulations that were created to end practices of discrimination. A separate report conducted by the NAACP supported Rearden’s findings. Collectively, the information from Rearden and Theus’ reports led the Department of Defense to issue insistent orders that would address many of the challenges that African Americans and other minorities were encountering. These orders were:

a.to establish an equal opportunity or human relations officer and human relations council at major units;

b.to develop numerical goals and timetables to increase utilization of minorities in occupations;

c.to remove or reassign officers, noncommissioned officers, and civilians who fail to act against discrimination;

d.to give base commanders power to declare housing within the United States off limits, without prior Pentagon approval, if landlords practiced racial discrimination.70

Under the leadership of Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird, Directive 1100.15 signaled to all DoD components that there would be severe consequences for commanders who did not take action to end discrimination against minorities in uniform on base and in the local communities. Furthermore, “any regulation or practice [that served] as an obstacle to equal opportunity [had to] be repealed or amended.”71 Laird squarely put the responsibility on local commanders in eliminating discrimination at their installations. Assistant Secretary of Defense, Roger T. Kelley, indicated that failure to make progress in any of these areas could result in non-promotion or separation from the service. The directors of defense agencies and service secretaries were also held accountable for results in these areas. Directive 1100.15 also called for each military branch to formulate Affirmative Action Plans.72

The race riot in 1971 at Travis Air Force Base, which lasted from May 21–24, resulted in over 1,230 arrests and one fatality. This was the explosive incident that forced the DoD to implement Theus’ recommendation

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