Dying in the City of the Blues - Reading 2

'"We know have Negroes with us," wrote Robert Van Dyke in October 1943, "although the only contact we have with them is in the latrine. They are well educated naturally or they wouldn't be in this company. I just don't like the idea though. Naturally, there is nothing I can do about it."

This quote is a statement that really stood out to me because it truly shows just how much black people were looked down upon over their skin color, nothing else. Back in this period of time, it was commonly said that African Americans lacked intelligence and were poorly educated. However, this quote is from a white person, who is admitting that the Negroes are naturally well-educated, yet he still states that he is against the idea of them being involved. At least those who said/thought that African Americans were not intelligent could use that as an excuse to not want them being involved in the military services, this man knows that they are intelligent, yet just doesn't want them present due to their skin color.

Another piece of the reading that stood out to me was when there were the examples of the newspaper cartoons that represented how Red Cross refused to give Negro blood to white Americans. I knew of this before, but reading it made just how messed up it was stand out even more. Given the time period, it originally did not shock me that doctors would not give a white person Negro blood. Also, knowing that there was this new disease being associated solely with African Americans made it less shocking that doctors would not want to mix their blood. However, these white soldiers would be left to die instead of being given the blood of an African American. The white military doctors were so reluctant to mix the blood that they truly could see no difference between, hence the blood bags needing to be labeled to differentiate, that they would let a fighting soldier die instead of giving them the blood transfusion that they needed.