U.S WWII culture

The readings for this week covered a wide range of topics on U.S nationalism during WWII. For one, African Americans resented contributing to the war on behalf of the U.S because of the racial injustice they were still receiving. This, to me, is perfectly understandable especially given their historical neglection of their war efforts in the Civil War which later came to be known as a war that was purposely "misremembered". Malcolm X's behavior during the zoot suit era, though he viewed as shameful, were quite significant in representing how African Americans felt about the state of the nation at that time. He not only refused to participate in the war by purposely making his health seem at risk, but demonstrated resistence by wearing the zoot suit and misbehaving against the white community. I do agree with Kelley in which he states that without Malcolm X's rebellious youth years, his adulthood would not have been in the same because he wouldn't have been as radical towards the civil rights movement.
While African Americans were still facing racial injustice, Japanese Americans were being forced onto camps after Pearl Harbor. Partial reasoning for this action is due to national suspicion of traitorship towards the U.S. However, no such evidence to support this suspicion was ever discovered. It saddens me that they were forced to the camps in a "silence", feeling too helpless to put up a fight. Then, they were asked to choose on fighting for the U.S or not. If they chose to fight, they would have to become disloyal to Japan. In my opinion, making immigrants choose between their home country and the U.S is unfair. This is an extremely difficult position to be put in. While those who refused to join the U.S army were treated badly in the camps and looked down upon, some Japanese in the camps remained loyal to the U.S and demonstrated patriotism. They probably did this to show that despite the horrible living conditions they were forced to live in, they wanted to show that they still appreciated the U.S and that it might free them from the camps and help relieve national anxiety towards the Japanese Americans.
Ernie Pyle describes the war at Normany through very personal stories of U.S soldiers. His writing style makes learning about the war easier and more interesting. Instead of just memorizing events and dates, Pyle interjects an element of humanity which touches his readers and makes learning about the war more memorable as if you are reading a story. For example, I really enjoyed reading about the French soldiers giving flowers and drinks to U.S soldiers as tokens of appreciation. Pyle shows his audience that soldiers are human even in the middle of the war and shows this through simple, short stories. I really enjoyed reading his article.