[Marxism] Clint Eastwood writes blacks out of history

[Lajany Otum]

Normally wouldn't bother posting this here, or
anywhere for that matter, but since Walter's
apparently already posted something on this
subject....

Where have all the black soldiers gone?

African-Americans written out of Pacific war in Clint
Eastwood's new film, veterans say
Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Saturday October 21, 2006

Guardian
On February 19 1945 Thomas McPhatter found himself on
a landing craft heading toward the beach on Iwo Jima.

"There were bodies bobbing up all around, all these
dead men," said the former US marine, now 83 and
living in San Diego. "Then we were crawling on our
bellies and moving up the beach. I jumped in a foxhole
and there was a young white marine holding his family
pictures. He had been hit by shrapnel, he was bleeding
from the ears, nose and mouth. It frightened me. The
only thing I could do was lie there and repeat the
Lord's prayer, over and over and over."

Sadly, Sgt McPhatter's experience is not mirrored in
Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood's big-budget,
Oscar-tipped film of the battle for the Japanese
island that opened on Friday in the US. While the
film's battle scenes show scores of young soldiers in
combat, none of them are African-American. Yet almost
900 African-American troops took part in the battle of
Iwo Jima, including Sgt McPhatter.

The film tells the story of the raising of the stars
and stripes over Mount Suribachi at the tip of the
island. The moment was captured in a photograph that
became a symbol of the US war effort. Eastwood's film
follows the marines in the picture, including the
Native American Ira Hayes, as they were removed from
combat operations to promote the sale of government
war bonds.

Mr McPhatter, who went on to serve in Vietnam and rose
to the rank of lieutenant commander in the US navy,
even had a part in the raising of the flag. "The man
who put the first flag up on Iwo Jima got a piece of
pipe from me to put the flag up on," he says. That,
too, is absent from the film.

"Of all the movies that have been made of Iwo Jima,
you never see a black face," said Mr McPhatter. "This
is the last straw. I feel like I've been denied, I've
been insulted, I've been mistreated. But what can you
do? We still have a strong underlying force in my
country of rabid racism."

Melton McLaurin, author of the forthcoming The Marines
of Montford Point and an accompanying documentary to
be released in February, says that there were hundreds
of black soldiers on Iwo Jima from the first day of
the 35-day battle. Although most of the black marine
units were assigned ammunition and supply roles, the
chaos of the landing soon undermined the battle plan.

"When they first hit the beach the resistance was so
fierce that they weren't shifting ammunition, they
were firing their rifles," said Dr McLaurin.

The failure to transfer the active role played by
African-Americans at Iwo Jima to the big screen does
not surprise him. "One of the marines I interviewed
said that the people who were filming newsreel footage
on Iwo Jima deliberately turned their cameras away
when black folks came by. Blacks are not surprised at
all when they see movies set where black troops were
engaged and never show on the screen. I would like to
say that it was from ignorance but anybody can do
research and come up with books about
African-Americans in world war two. I think it has to
do with box office and what producers of movies think
Americans really want to see."

full:
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329606476-110878,00.html>

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited
2006


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