Page 43 - Contrast1967November
P. 43
I do not know about the use of drugs by
American soldiers in Vietnam. They (the drugs)
could serve as ·a means of escape from the tension
and death daily faced by the soldiers--an escape
often afforded by alcohol and sex.
The charge of the war's economic motivation
lacks concrete support. The "new left" is making
a post-facto judgment--money is being made as a
result of the war, to be sure, but I don't see
this as a causal, motivating factor.
Negro Americans are proportionately shouldering
more of the burden of the war. But our present
unwillingness to educate, house, and employ equally
eleven percent of our population will naturally
cause more Negroes to find themselves in an army
the advantaged, affluent, and privileged white man
can avoid.
As a postscript, I am gravely concerned about
what appears to be a subtle take over of the
militaristic mentality in this country. The New
York Times calls this the "most alarming" aspect
of the Vietnam war. Senator Young of Ohio has
condemned what he calls the assumption by the
military of "an increasingly larger role in
formulating national policy."
