Why did the black soldiers begin to identify with the VietCong?

Answer 1

You must have been watching that TV show about Cassius Clay aka Mohammud Alli, the heavy weight boxer of the world. He did say, "No VC ever called him a N." Which was his way of refusing induction into the US military. He did say that, but am not quite sure he refused induction the way HOLLYWOOD portrayed it! The way HOLLYWOOD showed it, he looked like he was complying with the law, just because he didn't say nothing, so what, AT LEAST HE WAS PRESENT FOR DUTY! Which was a far cry from the draft dodgers headed for the Canadian border. HOLLYWOOD must have doctored up the truth a bit.

Back to the original question, the Blacks, and this was the era of the "Black Panther Militant" movement called the Vietnam War, "The White's War" because the White Man wanted to fight it; whether the foe was White or Yellow, if the enemy was a commie...it was a White Man's War. And the Black's being neither White nor Yellow, felt that they shouldn't be drafted to fight for the White man against a Yellow or White men. Unless a war was about racial equality (apartheid) they believed it wasn't their business.

Despite the above response, they are myriad reasons Black GIs resented the war, none which means they identified with the Viet Cong! Don't confuse the two! The mere fact that they answered their draft notice, got trained, were in country and saw battle should put that to rest. To suggest otherwise is an insult to every man, Black, White or whatever who served rather than flee to Canada (which I might add was probably done more by upper & middle class Whites than Blacks ever did).

This war was taking place during the sixties, once of the most turbulent & racially divisive eras in our history. A Black paratrooper who served honorably in Vietnam could return home in 1967 to Mississippi or Alabama and could quite easily be denied his fair opportunity to vote, to ride a on public vehicle wherever he wanted or be served in a restaurant of his choosing. Though he may have proudly served his country and performed like a man he could still expect to be called 'boy' whenever a white person spoke to him. Wearing his uniform with his jump boots, jump wings and medals meant absolutely nothing. He could still be lynched for looking at, speaking to or god forbid dating a white woman or answering back in kind if insulted or ridiculed. If this same Sky Trooper rotated back to Vietnam, what was he to think? That he was proud of his country? That his country was proud of him? That he was fighting for freedom? For democracy? Whose? The people of South Vietnam? What about the freedom & democracy of his people back in the good 'ole U.S. of A? Where was their democracy? Where was their freedom? With all due respect to the people of the then Republic of Vietnam, it's easy to see why that soldier might not care about their struggle against oppression. He had a few struggles of his own to worry about. In the U.S. he had more to fear from the K.K.K. than any V.C. That still didn't mean he'd desert or that he'd run to Canada. And that didn't mean that he identified with the Viet Cong. It just meant he didn't identify with Uncle Sam either. And yes, perhaps no Viet Cong ever called him the 'N' word. Nor told him where he could or couldn't live, what job he could or couldn't have, where on the street he was or wasn't allowed to walk, what public pool he could or couldn't swim in, what water fountain he could or couldn't drink from no matter how thirsty he was, what hospital he could or couldn't go to if he was sick or dying or even where he could or couldn't be buried when his flag draped coffin was sent back from Vietnam.

This was also a class issue and just like so much else in this country's history, class often also involved race. One way to avoid serving in Vietnam without going to Canada forever was to obtain a college deferment or to get into to the military reserves. Since Blacks were proportionally poorer than whites, they were proportionally less likely to be able to attend college and thus be eligible for a deferment. This was true for many working class & poor whites and others who couldn't use these gimmicks that so many 'chicken hawks' like Dick Cheney and others repeatedly used to avoid ever serving! Money, affluence and political connections have been used since the Civil War to keep the sons of well heeled people out of harms way. This just happened to fall on Blacks particularly hard during Vietnam. Also, getting into the reserves could keep you from shipping out to Vietnam and many were desperate to choose that route to avoid being labeled a draft dodger while simultaneously keeping their behinds safe. Politically powerful or well connected families recognized the outcome of their son's future (political or otherwise) relied on keeping him out the war without having him looking like coward.

To do this you had to have connections in the military or politics or both. This appears to be the path chosen by George H.W. Bush for his son 'Dubya' who valiantly fought the Viet Cong from the comfort of Texas where he served in the Air National Guard for a couple of months, thus protecting him from flying the kinds of sorties that landed John McCain in the Hanoi Hilton for seven years!

Needless to say, not too many Blacks or Whites for that matter had that type of opportunity.

I'm quite certain there were just as many White service men in Vietnam, who slogged through jungles, fought in firefights and maybe got killed or wounded who never thought they should be there fighting the Viet Cong or NVA. Often the only reason they were trying to kill the V.C. was because the V.C. was trying kill them. And if they didn't have to be there, they wouldn't' have been. Simple as that. Fighting for your buddies. Not for Uncle Sam, politics or baseball and apple pie. That they didn't have a famous Black person like Muhammad Ali voice the view so simply didn't mean that many didn't feel the same way.

Suggesting that Black soldiers, outside of perhaps a few individual examples, identified with the Viet Cong demeans everyone who served over there, Black, White, you name it, who thought the war was wrong and a waste of American lives but fought anyway.

Answer 3

To see some ACTUAL statistics concerning those who served in Viet Nam go to the attached link. The FACT is that over 70% of those who served were High School grads or had more schooling. Another fact, 2/3 rds of those who served in Viet Nam were VOLUNTEERS. Of those who died - the % of KIA closely matches the racial demographics of the population of the USofA at that time.

There is a lot of hooey on the inter-net and in "common" knowledge about the Viet Nam war.

Answer 2

The actual extent to which black soldiers identified with the Viet Cong is not well documented. This was the same period as the general move away from segregation in the mainland US and it was popular to report that the dissatisfaction with the American system was prevalent with black troops. Some individuals undoubtedly did respond to the reported endemic racial tension in the US forces by viewing the Viet Cong's position more favorably.