Blacks: Too Much of the Burden?

Simple arithmetic, if nothing else, gives African Americans a special stake in Operation Desert Storm: they make up 12% of the U.S. population, but represent nearly 25% of the fighting forces in the Persian Gulf. When the air war finally shifts to a grinding ground confrontation, therefore, they are likely to spill a disproportionate amount of blood onto the desert sands. That has only fueled uneasiness among those blacks who feel that their friends and loved ones are being asked to do more than their fair share of dying for a nation that gives them less than their share of economic...