Excerpt from William Hastie’s resignation letter.
…At the same time I have believed that there remain areas in which changes of racial policy should be made but will not be made in response to advocacy within the Department but only as a result of strong and manifest public opinion…
Compelling new considerations have now arisen… In the Air Forces, the handling of racial issues has been reactionary and unsatisfactory from the outset, further retrogression is now so apparent and recent occurrences are so objectionable and inexcusable that I have no alternative but to resign in protest and to give public expression to my views. This ultimate decision has been forced upon me by… the humiliating and morale shattering mistreatment which, with at least the tacit approval of the Air Command, continues to be imposed upon Negro military personnel at the Tuskegee Air Base…
Two Negro officers were sent by the Ground Forces school for Aerial Observers. They successfully completed their course… but no plans for their utilization and no intention of training additional Negro officers in Aerial Observation…
To date no application of a Negro for appointment as an army service pilot has been accepted…
The racial imposition upon Negro personnel at Tuskegee have become so severe and demoralizing that, in my judgment, they jeopardize the entire future of the Negro in combat aviation.
Bonus
“‘Half American’ explores how Black WWII servicemen were treated better abroad,” NPR audio and interview transcript.
npr.org/2022/11/07/1134756262/half-american-matthew-delmont-black-wwii