Blue Discharge - Black Press Crusade

Black Press Crusade

Another minority group disproportionately issued blue discharges were African Americans. Of the 48,603 blue discharges issued by the Army between December 1, 1941, and June 30, 1945, 10,806 were issued to African Americans, 22.23% of all blue discharges at a time when African Americans constituted 6.5% of the Army. In October 1945, Black-interest newspaper The Pittsburgh Courier launched a crusade against the discharge and its abuses; calling the discharge "a vicious instrument that should not be perpetrated against the American Soldier", the Courier rebuked the Army for "allowing prejudiced officers to use it as a means of punishing Negro soldiers who do not like specifically unbearable conditions". The Courier specifically noted the discrimination faced by homosexual blue-tickets, calling them "'unfortunates' of the Nation...being preyed upon by the blue discharge" and demanded to know "why the Army chooses to penalize these 'unfortunates' who seem most in need of Army benefits and the opportunity to become better citizens under the educational benefits of the GI Bill of Rights". The Courier printed instructions on how to appeal a blue discharge and warned readers against accepting a blue ticket out of the service because of the negative effect it would likely have on their lives.

In addition to the Courier, other groups and institutions that decried the punitive use of the blue discharge included the American Legion, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the Veterans Benevolent Association. In the U.S. Senate, the chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee, Sen. Edwin C. Johnson (D-Colorado), read the Courier's editorial into the record. On October 29, 1945, noting that a blue discharge meant the veteran had not been convicted and yet had been separated from the military without being able to defend himself, he said: "There ought not to be a twilight zone between innocence and guilt. Blue discharges are certain to be a headache for Congress from now on."