General: Racism still deserves dialogue

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Maj. Gen. Darren W. McDew, director of public affairs for the Secretary of the Air Force, speaks to the audience Feb. 4 at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. As part of the African-American History Month celebration, General McDew related the historic struggles of African-Americans that were "validated by the 39 words" spoken by President Barack Obama while taking the oath of office.


General: Racism still deserves dialogue
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Feb 21, 2009 11:35:46 EST

Racism in the Air Force is largely a thing of the past, but that doesn’t mean all wrongs have been righted or that the issue doesn’t merit discussion, says one of the service’s 12 black general officers and the head of its recruiting command.

Brig. Gen. A.J. Stewart sees February, designated as Black History Month, as an opportunity to talk frankly about the past and the importance of diversity.

“One of the interesting questions that comes up every year is ... ‘Why do we continue to have an African-American heritage month? I thought we were past these issues,’ ” Stewart said. “My perspective on that is yes, we are no longer under the bonds of slavery, (and) we no longer have legal discrimination. ... However, for African-Americans in particular, we suffered very deep wounds for hundreds of years in this country, and while the wounds essentially have healed, they’ve left scars, and we are still in one sense recovering from this terrible experience.”

The Air Force has recruited in recent months more blacks than at any time since the start of the war in 2001, when all the services began experiencing lower percentages of black recruits.

The percentage of Air Force enlisted recruits who are black hit a low of 13.8 percent in 2003 but has rebounded to 18.8 percent so far in fiscal 2009, according to the Air Force Recruiting Service. By comparison, 11.4 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in the general population are black, according to the Census Bureau.


Rest of article at: http://airforcetimes.com/news/2009/02/airforce_black_history_022109/%2e