During the Vietnam War, there was a great deal of opposition to the war in the African-American community, with some going so far as to claim American blacks ought not make war upon non-white peoples in the Third World. I remember reading somewhere that the fact the US was fighting a "non-white opponent" was a big deal for some.
There might have been some African-American opposition to the Korean War. I read a short story once entitled "God Bless America" by John O. Killens in which the wife of black soldier about to go to Korea tells her husband she doesn't see what "colored soldiers" have to fight for, especially against "other colored people."
http://books.google.com/books?id=XJ8L7A_TsYsC&pg=PA242&lpg=PA242&dq=\"become%20a%20deserter\"%20\"colored%20people\"&source=bl&ots=HNALqSnp0s&sig=RLbXvNB4IbIc6XkypZ5OCNZz4l4&hl=en&ei=FemnSbDhJY3BtgfpjI3cDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA242,M1
However, I am under the impression the general African-American attitude towards participation in WWII was that they were fighting to earn the respect they deserved.
Thing is, African-Americans were oppressed to a much greater degree during the WWII period (during the Vietnam era and to a lesser degree Korea, a lot of progress was being made re: civil rights and race relations) and the US was fighting a non-white opponent then--the Empire of Japan--which was making a big deal about liberating Asian peoples from white European rule.
(The fact the Japanese were even more racist and abusive than the European imperialists is immaterial, as it might not be widely known)
So how might we make it so there is large-scale black opposition to American participation in WWII, at least in the Pacific Theater?
I've only got two ideas thus far:
1. The Pacific War begins in a bit more ambiguous circumstances--instead of an overt, "treacherous" Japanese aggression like Pearl Harbor, perhaps something involving the Flying Tigers or the Panay Incident. This way, the US might not appear to have the moral high ground in the situation.
2. WWI spawns racial progress to the same degree WWII did in OTL (someone other than Wilson is president or Wilson is less racist) so we get the same "progress isn't coming fast enough" dynamic for WWII that we had during Vietnam.
There might have been some African-American opposition to the Korean War. I read a short story once entitled "God Bless America" by John O. Killens in which the wife of black soldier about to go to Korea tells her husband she doesn't see what "colored soldiers" have to fight for, especially against "other colored people."
http://books.google.com/books?id=XJ8L7A_TsYsC&pg=PA242&lpg=PA242&dq=\"become%20a%20deserter\"%20\"colored%20people\"&source=bl&ots=HNALqSnp0s&sig=RLbXvNB4IbIc6XkypZ5OCNZz4l4&hl=en&ei=FemnSbDhJY3BtgfpjI3cDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA242,M1
However, I am under the impression the general African-American attitude towards participation in WWII was that they were fighting to earn the respect they deserved.
Thing is, African-Americans were oppressed to a much greater degree during the WWII period (during the Vietnam era and to a lesser degree Korea, a lot of progress was being made re: civil rights and race relations) and the US was fighting a non-white opponent then--the Empire of Japan--which was making a big deal about liberating Asian peoples from white European rule.
(The fact the Japanese were even more racist and abusive than the European imperialists is immaterial, as it might not be widely known)
So how might we make it so there is large-scale black opposition to American participation in WWII, at least in the Pacific Theater?
I've only got two ideas thus far:
1. The Pacific War begins in a bit more ambiguous circumstances--instead of an overt, "treacherous" Japanese aggression like Pearl Harbor, perhaps something involving the Flying Tigers or the Panay Incident. This way, the US might not appear to have the moral high ground in the situation.
2. WWI spawns racial progress to the same degree WWII did in OTL (someone other than Wilson is president or Wilson is less racist) so we get the same "progress isn't coming fast enough" dynamic for WWII that we had during Vietnam.