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Averander t1_j8k0faj wrote

All across the world, minority service in WW2 is still not very well known despite how well documented the war was.

I think that speaks volumes about how far there is to go in terms of equality and acceptance.

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Sacpunch t1_j8k4pe1 wrote

To be fair Reddit has a problem with revisionist history.

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Averander t1_j8k5lui wrote

There's literally loads of minority groups that were in the wars that are ignored or only slowly being brought up like this now. Aboriginal units on the Australian front who were never properly acknowledged, African American soldiers who were never honoured. We could do the right thing and put these people in the books where they belong, rather than bury our heads in the sand. I don't see how it's a bad thing? I mean, doesn't it just show we can be better and do better?

I don't think I'll ever understand people!

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MrBlack103 t1_j8k6aao wrote

It continually astounds me how many people act surprised when they’re told a huge amount of the colonial powers’ manpower came from their colonies.

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Averander t1_j8ka3xu wrote

Not just colonies, but the native and usually heavily abused populations!

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stirfriedglory t1_j8k6tzu wrote

I fail to see how events almost 80 years in the past are able to speak about modern day equality and acceptance.

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n-some t1_j8kat5c wrote

I think it's not the events themselves, it's the lack of knowledge about those events. When one hears that the UK fought WW2, one tends to think of a white British man, not an Indian man, although both are accurate. There was a vocal minority complaining about black french soldiers in the film Dunkirk being woke revisionism, despite the large numbers of colonial soldiers that fought for France on French soil.

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smolDreee t1_j8l75wk wrote

>When one hears that the UK fought WW2, one tends to think of a white British man, not an Indian man, although both are accurate.

Does that matter? I mean, the Roman Imperial Army had black legionnaires in it too. But why is that important?

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n-some t1_j8l9266 wrote

If your sentiment is that we should operate in a post-racial world, I would agree. Unfortunately in the world we currently live in, people often associate ethnicity with nationality at a level that has rarely been historically accurate.

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smolDreee t1_j8l9c5n wrote

Well I mean, we really should operate in a post-war world too. But thats I guess too advanced a thought for the rest of humanity.

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Averander t1_j8kauk3 wrote

It is the fact that we continue to ignore the importance of services of minority populations in those events. It would take literally no effort to acknowledge them, and yet 80 years on and we still are only just managing to give some begrudging credit (and even then not much in books). Yet the documentation is all there, meticulous.

When the easy work hasn't been done for decades, it speaks volumes about the hard work.

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Disastrous_Sun2932 t1_j8kbvu3 wrote

I mean, at the end of the day it’s a soldier. They serve their country, and that’s what matters the most

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Averander t1_j8kc8gi wrote

Unless their service is never acknowledged and they are treated as never having served. Which happened for many.

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Disastrous_Sun2932 t1_j8kd9le wrote

Unfortunately not all heroes see the light of the day. I bet there are thousands stories of many soldiers from various countries and ethnicities that were never told

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Averander t1_j8keqiw wrote

And that's what can be changed, easily. Those people can be acknowledged and the wrongs of that era made right. It wouldn't take huge monetary or social change, but acknowledging these people and their contributions.

When that can't be done, it really makes you wonder.

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ABetterKamahl1234 t1_j8kll6v wrote

> Those people can be acknowledged and the wrongs of that era made right. It wouldn't take huge monetary or social change, but acknowledging these people and their contributions.

Depending on the group, it can be hard to dig up information to accurately depict this if there was something like rampant racism that refused to acknowledge contributions.

It's hard to bring up 80 year old information that never got written down, many of the people involved wouldn't even still be alive.

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Averander t1_j8knocq wrote

However their service has been recorded, that is the issue here. Meticulous records of troops and service were kept, through logs, diaries and other records. We have absolutely unfathomable amounts of data from the period, hence so many documentaries and historical books upon the era.

The people may not be alive, but the records are very much intact. While people were very much racist, they were still very happy recording every detail.

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[deleted] t1_j8k3kim wrote

[removed]

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MrBlack103 t1_j8kycn9 wrote

How the hell does this get so many downvotes? Apparently my opinion of this sub was too high.

Edit: There's no clear pattern to which comments are upvoted or downvoted heavily. What gives?

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