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NYTimes: Forgotten Soldiers of the Integration Fight

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by basso, Oct 12, 2009.

  1. basso

    basso Member
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    an old story, resurrected by Glenn Reynolds, most of ya'll're probably too young to remember this, and my own memories are pretty hazy, tho i remember Cairo pretty clearly, and other similar instances from the late 60s.

    [rquoter]Forgotten Soldiers of the Integration Fight
    By WILLIAM DOYLE
    Published: Saturday, September 28, 2002

    On Tuesday, Oct. 1, Oxford, Miss., will be coming to terms with one of the major events of its past. Forty years ago on that day, in the early morning, a force of nearly 30,000 American combat troops raced toward Oxford in a colossal armada of helicopters, transport planes, Jeeps and Army trucks.

    Their mission was to save Oxford, the University of Mississippi and a small force of federal marshals from being destroyed by over 2,000 white civilians who were rioting after James Meredith, a black Air Force veteran, arrived to integrate the school.

    The troops were National Guardsmen from little towns all over Mississippi, regular Army men from across the United States and paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.

    They had to capture the city quickly; the F.B.I. had intelligence that thousands of Klansmen and segregationists from California to Georgia may have set off for Oxford, many of them armed.

    The first troops to reach Oxford found over 100 wounded federal marshals at the center of campus, 27 of them hit by civilian gunfire. Packs of hundreds of rioters swarmed the city, some holding war dances around burning vehicles.

    Snipers opened fire on the Army convoys and bricks struck the heads of American soldiers. Black G.I.'s in one convoy were ambushed by white civilians who tried to decapitate them in their open Jeeps with metal pipes.

    Maj. William Callicott of the Mississippi National Guard had served in World War II; he said he "never was as terrified as I was going onto the campus that night."

    "It was the fact that I knew there had to be some local people from my hometown probably over there in that mob," Major Callicott said. "That's what really worried me. If we killed anybody it could be my next-door neighbor."

    The Army troops restored order to the school and the city, block by block. A girl watched a team of infantrymen under attack on the Oxford town square and, according to a reporter at the scene, wondered aloud, "When are they going to shoot back?" Except for a few warning shots, they never did.

    Yet when the soldiers left the city a few weeks later, they marched into oblivion. Most were under orders not to talk to the press. The Cuban missile crisis unfolded just weeks later, wiping Oxford from the front pages.

    What the troops did in Oxford was so courageous that their commanders nominated them for scores of medals. But an internal Army memo from May 1963 states: "The focus of additional attention on this incident would not be in the best interest of the US Army or the nation. . . . decorations should not be awarded for actions involving conflict between US Army units and other Americans." Memories of what the troops did then faded away.

    On Tuesday, there will be an epilogue to this dramatic battle. Oxford's mayor, Richard Howorth, and the city council of Oxford have tracked down as many of the troops of 1962 as they could and invited them to the city to be honored as heroes. They will march back through Oxford's Courthouse Square to receive the official thanks of the community they saved from destruction two generations ago.

    William Doyle is author of "An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962."
    [/rquoter]
     
  2. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    kinda eerie especially with what's starting to boil today in those who share similar thoughts as those who tried to violently stop the integration.
     
  3. basso

    basso Member
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    "those who harbor similar thoughts..."

    who are you speaking of?
     
  4. Nice Rollin

    Nice Rollin Member

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    [​IMG]


    perhaps, this guy?
     
  5. Rashmon

    Rashmon Member

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    Maybe some of these guys? Or the ones packing heat at town halls?

    [​IMG]
     
  6. basso

    basso Member
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    what does that have to do with integration?
     
  7. rudan

    rudan Member

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    [​IMG]

    Yup
     
  8. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    hatred leading to violence against those who disagree with you isn't limited to white people.
     
  9. basso

    basso Member
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    like the SEIU attacks on tea partyers?

    interesting tho, that that's what you thought of reading that story. telling...
     
  10. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

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    Thanks for the interesting article. Too bad about the rest of the thread.
     
  11. Rashmon

    Rashmon Member

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    Though I'm sure you understand the connection within the context of the thread, I'll indulge your obsequiousness.

    Googrux said:

    "kinda eerie especially with what's starting to boil today in those who share similar thoughts as those who tried to violently stop the integration."

    you said:

    "those who harbor similar thoughts..."

    who are you speaking of?

    Followed by pictures depicting individuals espousing fringe political viewpoints in disagreement with the government, while threatening armed revolt.

    Think you can take it from there?
     
  12. glynch

    glynch Member

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    Yeah, as one of the only people on the bbs old enough to have somewhat followed the story as it happened I was not aware of how many federal marshals had been wounded and how the troops were fired on so much. The details definitely not publicized.

    Wow, racism was incredibly strong and required troops to suppress it. Is it any wonder that Obama's election has brought the remnant of it bubbling up to the surface.

    It certainly does not help that we are in a recession and so many of the hard core racists are uneducated and currently unemployed and without health care, including often times anti-depressants to treat their medical conditions.
     
  13. rimrocker

    rimrocker Member

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    You're kidding right?

    Sorry basso, but Glenn Reynolds and the people you both support don't get to claim credit for resurrecting the memory of the civil rights movement. Just because you only saw it on Instapunk doesn't mean others don't remember. What hubris for you to think that one of the blogs you read has resurrected such a pivotal moment in the march for civil rights.

    If it weren't so predictable, it'd be unbelievable.
     
  14. basso

    basso Member
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    pardon me? did someone else drag this item out of the vaults of the times website today, prior to Glenn?

    what's unbelievable is you taking a story about the heroism of those who fought for integration and turning it into some ridiculous screed against conservatives. you and groogrux are the punks.
     
  15. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    since you continually post nothing but garbage, i'm going to take that as a compliment coming from you. you calling us punks tells me we're doing something right.
     
  16. basso

    basso Member
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    is this story garbage, or did you and rimmy turn it into a garbage thread with your hateful screeds?
     
  17. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    the only hate i see is coming from the right. unless you believe the hate shown at the protests and the call for armed revolution to be plants by the left. i'm sorry if reading what you posted today makes me think of what we're starting to hear and see today. certainly it's not at the same level yet, but it's not for lack of trying.
     
  18. basso

    basso Member
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    1 guy carrying a gun at a rally= armed gangs trying to take over the town of oxford, resulting in a battle with the national guard?
     
  19. FranchiseBlade

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    Please read, or if you can't, get help and learn how to.
     
  20. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    try again.
     

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