this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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Explanation: As seen here, racism was rampant amongst the American brass (and rank-and-file, for that matter) during WW2. Despite African-American soldiers having repeatedly proven themselves in prior US wars, there was a strange notion in WW2 that Black people were in some way 'incapable' of combat equal to the White Man(tm).
For that matter, Patton himself, who was not much more than a fascist born on the non-fascist side of the national borders of the period, was deeply racist in private, both against Black people and Jews, but he, at least, knew enough to play the leader to troops under his command instead of attempting to demoralize his own fucking forces.
So he was first a soldier and then a fucking racist pig second. The dude on the left is the other way.
It's a low bar, but some men still manage to limbo under it, it would seem.
Patton, typical US lib, Almond typical white rust belt dude.
edit: goddamn autocorrectÂ
That notion was not exclusive to WW2. Blacks fought in every American war, and faced this prejudice in every instance.
Yeah, but it was unusually strong in WW2 considering the history. The most recent previous time Black American troops entered a war explicitly forbidden from combat positions was the US Civil War.