In Vietnam
Blacks fight whites, Viet Cong
6
by BILL SMITIIERMAN
Nabraikan Staff Writer
"One night in Vietnam this
white guy started saying we
blacks weren't citizens and
didn't even have a right to be
in the Army," Allen Buck
ingham told a Nebraska Union
audience Tuesday.
"Two of us didn't want to
argue with him, so we just
started slugging it out," he
continued. "They didn't charge
me, but they did charge Sgt.
Nathaniel Harrison."
Buckingham said that when
Harrison came to trial ten
whites and fifty blacks testified
for him while only two people,
both white, testified against
him. The sergeant was given
six months in jail and busted to
private, he said
This was one of the many
cases of discrimination against
black soldiers Buckingham
cited in a Black History Week
speech. He is a University stu
dent who served in the Army
for three years and in Vietnam
for over a year.
He told of crying with his
buddies in Vietnam while
picking up "black, white and
orange heads and bodies" after
his unit had been surrounded
by the Viet Cong. "We couldn't
understand why we were dying
for freedom in Vietnam while
we were not free in our own
country," Buckingham said.
He also spoke of black
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soldiers in all the wars of the
United States and how they had
d i s t inguished themselves.
Black minute men were
originally barred from joining
Washington's army. Later
Washington reversed his order
and more than 100,000 blacks
fought in the Revolution.
He cited the valor of black
soldiers in the war of 1812 and
noted that the first man to win
the Congressional Medal of
Honor was a black in the Civil
War.
"The black ninth cavalry
helped open the western fron
tier," Buckingham continued.
"They were called the Buffalo
soldiers by the Indians because
they had curly hair like a Buffalo's."
"It's a damn lie that the
white man opened the west by
himself," he added. A black
translator with the seventh
cavalry was a friend with Chief
Sitting Bujl and tried to make
peace three times before the
Little Bighorn massacre.
"None of the whites would
listen to a black man though,"
he said.
In this century he cited the
example of two black soldiers
who were the first men to be
decorated in World War I. He
also told of a black soldier at
Pearl Harbor who stayed at his
machine gun and shot down
eight Japanese planes.
"In the Battle of the Bulge
3,500 black troops volunteered
to fight," Buckingham said.
"But, after the battle they were
sent back to their segregated
units to dig ditches."
Buckingham's speech was
part of the Black History Week
program. Several other events
are planned.
Thursday afternoon at 1:30
p.m. and Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Allen Mosley and Co. will fill
the South Crib of the Nebraska
Union with their soul sound.
National Director of the
Congress of Racial Equality,
Roy Innes, will speak in the
Union Ballroom 3:30 p.m.
Thursday.
Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
a rap session on "All Power to
the People" is scheduled in the
Union. Friday at 7 p.m. there
will be a soul dinner and dance
in the Union Ballroom. Ad
mission is $1.80 per person.
State groups form
Nebraskans for Peace
6 p.m. ,
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
AUF
6:45 p.m.
Phi Lambda Theta
7 p.m.
Black Rap Session
Quiz Bowl
NU Chess Club
Young Democrats
Kosmet Klub Tryouts
German Club
Quiz Bowl Isolation
State peace organizations are
cooperating in a newly-formed
organization Nebraskans for
Peace.
The central peace office, part
of Cotner House, 327 No. 13th
St. in Lincoln, is now serving as
"sort of a resource center,"
Mike Shonsey, NFP
coordinator, explained. Groups
or individuals may contact the
peace headquarters to obtain
information, films or speakers
concerning the peace move
ment. The coalition was initiated by
the Concerned Clergy and
Laymen About Vietnam and
the Rural Nebraskans for
Peace, Shonsey explained.
Shonsey explained that NFP
is a loos cly-structured
organization. "There are some
people in the peace movement
win) think we need a tight
organization," he continued,
"but one advantage of a loose
structure is that it is non-exclusive.
Any peace group
desiring information or the
facilities of the peace office
may do so."
HAT Di
BLACKS AND GREEKS
AND FOREIGN STUDENTS
AND INDEPENDENTS AND
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EAST CAMPUS AND
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AND COMMUNES AND
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AND DOPE AND C.S.L.
AND GOVERNOR TIEMANN
HAVE IN COMMON WITH THE 1970 CORNHUSKER
Thyrt all a part of If.
Your! a part, too. A vital part.
If you haven't gotten your copy yet.
it' not too lato.
Order a 70 CORNHUSKER from the tales staff
or drop by Room 51 Nebraska Union.
Deadline February 21.
$7.50.
PAGE 2
THE'bVJilYNRXSKAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1970