It took a major outcry, but Air Force rescinds removing Tuskegee Airmen video from class | Opinion

As we start a month celebrating the history and the contributions of African Americans to “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee…”, I enter this year’s Black History Month with a bit of caution.

I say this because I learned the U.S. Air Force had recently suspended its basic training class, which includes a video about the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed Black fighter pilots of the Army Air Forces during World War II. The move was short-lived; there was such an outcry the Air Force on Monday reinstated the course.

My question is, “Why was the course even being taken out of the curriculum?” History has already recorded the heroic acts of the all-Black Tuskegee Airmen, who helped win World War II. It took nearly 60 years before America would give the airmen their due.

And now, to hear that their acts of heroism were almost erased from history by the very branch of the Armed Forces they helped, is just another slap in the face of Black America.

Although this incident — yet another attempt to erase our history — was halted before it got too far, it tells me that now, more than ever, freedom-loving, justice-seeking Americans must always be vigilant. We can neither slumber nor sleep because we are faced daily with the threat of our history being wiped out.

Outcry over cutting Tuskegee Airmen from course

According to news reports, the Air Force originally halted its basic training course on “airmindedness” on Jan. 23 after President Trump issued an order barring DEI programs from the federal government and military. The class included videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, who were the first Black and female pilots (white women, take heed), respectively, to fly for the U.S. military.

After the uproar, the Air Force on Monday put in place a revised class on “airmindedness” that will include material on the Tuskegee and WASP pilots, according to an article in the AirForceTimes, which cited a statement issued Sunday by Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, head of Air Education and Training Command.

The Tuskegee Airmen fought in a war against all odds. They were considered not good enough to train with the white airmen, yet they were good enough to put their lives on the line and help protect said white airmen. A Tuskegee fighter group earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for an escort mission to Berlin in March 1945, according to Dr. Christopher Koontz, an Air Force historian.

To erase this chapter of American history would have been shameful.

During this Black History Month celebration, we Blacks must be more determined than ever to keep our history alive. Our contributions seem to mean nothing to some people.

In the old days, we found a way to pass on our history to younger generations. We did it by incorporating our stories in our daily chats around the dinner table. We told our history in our churches. We found a way to get our stories to our children through books and plays and poems.

But it isn’t enough just for Blacks to know our contributions. Our stories are woven into the fabric of America. Our stories are America’s stories and should be taught as such.

I love it when I hear our youth proudly rattling off a list of accomplishments achieved by their forefathers and mothers at a time when we Blacks were still enslaved. It makes me proud when our young people can hold their heads up and declare that they belong here, on this soil, in this America.

What makes me apprehensive is that their declarations often are not heard. It isn’t the African Americans who need to hear this report, it is the rest of America, especially those Americans who tell us to go back to Africa.

The Tuskegee Airmen threat was quite a scare. But it doesn’t end there, my friends. The fight for equality and justice wages on. So, this month as we commemorate Black History, let these words of an old civil rights anthem be our theme song:

“Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ‘round, turn me ‘round, turn me ‘round; Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ’round, I’m gonna keep on a walkin’, keep on a-talkin’, Marching up to freedom land.”

Former CBS White House correspondent to be honored

Peter Maer, a former CBS News White House correspondent who covered the civil rights movement, will be presented with the National Hank Meyer Headliner Award for Excellence in Responsible Journalism by Mosaic Miami, a nonprofit that works to foster unity in South Florida.

The award ceremony will be at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at the Sanctuary of the Arts, 410 Andalusia Ave., Coral Gables. Jane Wooldridge, the Miami Herald’s senior director for journalism sustainability and partnerships, will moderate.

The program will feature a fireside chat between Maer and Kevin Pierce, author of “Sins of My Father: Growing up with America’s Most Dangerous White Supremacist.”

Tickets are $60 each and may be purchased at, https://ci.ovationtix.com/36755/production/1225414.