Number of African-Americans in Army Plunges

[Hissyspit]

Number of blacks in the military plunges

“The number of blacks joining the military has plunged by more than one-third since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began. … According to Pentagon data, there were nearly 51,500 new black recruits for active duty and reserves in 2001. That number fell to less than 32,000 in 2006, a 38 percent decline.”

[thunder rising]

1. Now if we could just get the idea across to the white boys..

[NJCher]

2. Lack of support

I once saw that the war had the least support among African-American women.

Connection?



Cher

[pocoloco]

5. Dildo had an effective way to stop a war!

[Olney Blue]

3. An illegal war, an incompetent CIC- doesn't inspire confidence in the future.

[UTUSN]

4. Thank goodness. Now if we could get the Hispanics to stop volunteering... n/t

[mod mom]

6. Why should they fight for a country that has a government who doesn't want them to vote.

[book_worm]

7. Why would anybody want to enlist to help support this atrocious war in Iraq

but I hear that Hispanic enlistments are climbing. Perhaps the new "immigration" law will promise amnesty to anybody within a certain age who volunteers to go into the military.

[harlinchi]

8. An article I saw mentioned that the percentage of Blacks has declined...

...from 24% in 2000 to 14% in 2005. I thought it was an attempt to further demonize Blacks. The article was located here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8147705.

I posted about it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=258&topic_id=2012

In the current iteration, actual numbers are used instead of percentages. If, however, 51,500 equals 24 percent of total recruits then 32,000 represents 14.9 percent. Since Blacks are about 11.8% of the US population and since 14.9 is still greater that 11.8, Blacks are still over-represented in the total recruit numbers.

If, after such a substantial decline in Black enlistment percentages, Blacks are still enlisting in numbers greater than their population percentages, which section of society is not enlisting in numbers proportional to their population percentage?

I'm glad Blacks are no longer enlisting in such a disproportionate manner; I know that since we represent the hind end of the economic cash cow in the US we are almost forced to enlist in larger numbers. I just don't want to see Blacks made into the bad guy even though their enlistment percentages exceed their population percentages.