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(MILITARY—VIETNAM.)
Avoid Drafts.
Black and white photographic poster,
28-3/8x22 inches, depicting a GI in a bombed out building, with a blanket over his
shoulders and his feet in a tub of water.
San Francisco, 1967
[700/1,000]
TheVietnamWar saw the highest proportion of blacks ever to serve in an American war. During
the height of the U.S. involvement, 1965-69, blacks, who formed 11 percent of the American
population, made up 12.6 percent of the soldiers inVietnam!The majority of these were in the
infantry, and although authorities differ on the figures, the percentage of black combat fatalities
in that period was a staggering 14.9 percent, a proportion that subsequently declined.Volunteers
and draftees included many frustrated blacks whose impatience with the war and the delays in
racial progress at home led to race riots on a number of ships and military bases.
ATERRIBLE MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
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(MILITARY—VIETNAM.) KLAN.
The Camp Pendleton 14.
Rare grouping
of 10 flyers, broadsides, and a petition, for the defense of the Camp Pendleton 14.
CONDITION VARIES
,
SHOULD BE SEEN
.
California, 1976
[500/750]
During the latter part of 1976, the Klan began circulating racist propaganda at the 32,000 man
Marine Base at Camp Pendleton in Southern California.The Klan put up and passed out its
“White Man Awake” posters and leaflets; they burned a Black officer’s car, openly wore KKK
insignia, threatened black marines and openly called for recruits to become KKK members.When
the Klan called for a meeting on November 13th, fourteen black marines went looking for the
meeting. Mistakenly, they went to the room next door where four whites and two Chicanos were
partying.These six were severely beaten, and the Klansmen got away without a scratch.Though
the black marines had clearly beaten the wrong people, there were obvious mitigating circumstances.
The case served to bring attention to the KKK presence in the Armed Services.The top brass at
Pendleton had even allowed Klan leader David Duke, free access to the base “to protect the
rights of white servicemen.” In the end, CORE, the NAACP and the liberal press all tossed
the blacks to the wolves.The ACLU even defended the Klan’s right to free speech.
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