By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
Aug. 6, 2008
As the Defense Department commemorated the 60th anniversary of the armed forces’ integration today at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the observance is a reminder of “how far we’ve come toward living up to our founding ideals and how far we still have to go.”
The Defense Department began breaking down the barriers of race at the close of World War II in 1945. The military had just returned from fighting in Europe and the Pacific, yet black Americans who served with distinction still faced the bigotry of Jim Crow laws, he said.
“The treatment of patriots as second-class citizens was a sharp contradiction that gave impetus to change,” he continued.
Many measures against discrimination were taken to implement that change. There were public negotiations and tough speeches by civil rights activists. President Harry S. Truman signed executive orders mandating fair practices in the federal government and equality and fair treatment within the armed forces, Gates said. \
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50715
