Oakland, CA…. Black Veteran Leaders and representatives will
meet at the National Museum of African American History in
Washington DC., on September 30, 2022, at 11: o’clock AM. The
leaders will call on the National Museum to explain its decision to
deny the Coalition of Black Veterans request to erect a statue of
the legendary Buffalo Soldier Brigadier General Charles Young on
the public Museum grounds. We believe the property is the proper
location for historical reasons. It is a sad commentary that we
must fight for equal recognition as Black Veterans in a facility that
was initially requested to be established by Black Veterans.
There is an historical footprint leading to the creation of the
National African American Museum of History and Culture. The
original call for the National Museum came from Black Veterans
following World War I. The conversation was interrupted by the
Great Depression. The idea briefly resurfaced by Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., but faded with his death in 1968. The idea was
reintroduced in a modified form through another group of Black
Veterans in 1978. The National Minority Military Museum
Foundation began the advocacy to develop a National Minority
Military Museum. Our advocacy was visible in 1986 when the late
Congressman John Lewis submitted legislation calling for a
national museum in its broader scope. His legislation languished
for seventeen years until then, President George W. Bush signed
it into law in December of 2003. When signed the legislation
enveloped the subject of Black Military History. The Foundation
and its coalition of veteran organizations halted its calls for a
Military Museum to demonstrate a willingness to work with the
government under the mandate of the Legislation. We were
aware of the importance of the subject and the need for it to be
recognized in a national institution.
By 2003, we had led a highly visible advocacy for then twenty-
five years calling for the National Minority Military Museum. The
visibility of our advocacy gained us a seat on the national
museum’s preliminary planning body. The invite came through the
Department of Interior. However, we were only included in the
decision to establish the institution’s Civil Rights theme and
received assurances Black Military History would have a gallery in
the proposed national facility. The finished result of the gallery
leaves much to be desired. We have yet to receive an explanation
as to why the Black Military History Gallery is the smallest display
area in the museum. However, military history is the cornerstone
of the Civil Rights Movements. In an institution where the average
gallery size is seven thousand square feet, the Military History
gallery was reduced in size by fifty-eight percent. The three
thousand square feet gallery covers Black participation in five
branches of the Armed Forces plus the Revenue Cutter Service
over a span of two hundred and fifty years of intermittent service.
By comparison, the replica of Oprah Winfrey’s theater in the
museum is ten thousand square feet. It is three times (plus) one
the size of the Black Military History Gallery. A disparity that
many people find questionable and for some offensive. The
museum is three hundred and sixty thousand square feet in size.
The Museum’s denial of the request to provide a place for the
statue on the property is another question Black Veterans are
seeking explanation. It cannot be an issue of space; we are
talking about one hundred square feet of land on a five acre piece
of property. We have invited the Supervisory Curator of
Collections to explain to the public why the statue is not a good fit
for the museum grounds. We invite an explanation of what
appears to be institutional indifference regarding the subject of
Black Military History.
The Coalition invites the public to join us at Arlington National
Cemetery on September 30, at the Tanner Amphitheater. The
program will be to deliver the Final Report on the campaign that
led to then Colonel Charles Young’s promotion to Brigadier
General. The program will be from 2:o’clock to 4:o’clock pm.
Veteran Organization members are asked to wear your Colors.
Media can contact the Coalition at cnmmmf@aol.com with any
questions.