“Mike Little”

Interview and Essay by Mel and Serena

 

 

Johnny Michael Little, also known as Mike Little, was a part of the U.S. military from 1973 to 1978. He was stationed at Fort Hood Texas, the pinnacle of the deep south. President Carter was in office at the time. Little decided to enlist after graduating high school and spending a year in New Jersey with his cousin Alan Lou Little. His cousin was a professional boxer and taught him many skills which carried over into the military. Others would fear him because of his talent in hand-to-hand combat and the way he had learned to compose himself.

Little said that one of the reasons that black people would join the military was to “get off the streets”. There was plenty of monetary incentive to join the army and the concept of being a veteran was revered. Perhaps the racism that kept black families confined to outrageously priced and unkept places would disappear when given such a patriotic title? One of the largest fuels for racism was the deprivation of decent housing, education, and job opportunities. Being a part of the military could change that. The military had been segregated for nearly thirty years around the time that Little first joined, and while there wasn’t such a clear racial divide there was certainly plenty of racial tension.

Mr. Little recalled how the leader of another military group disliked him for a reason he refused to specify. One day he was marching and a jeep drove by with the other leader residing in the car. The leader yelled “Stop that JD formation!” and ordered attention. He then went to negatively critique the performance of his group and the way they were marching. The leader removed the stripes of one of the leaders of the group unjustly. Other military officials around consoled the man whose stripes were removed that they would get them back, that particular leader simply didn’t like the group for some reason. The implication was that said leader was racist against the group.

Around the start of the 1970s, there were various violent outbreaks having to do with the rise of the “Black Power” movement. These, for the most part, died out before Mr. Little was enlisted. Also during the Post-Vietnam era, more steps were taken to dissolve groups within the military that didn’t adhere to racial equality. According to Sam Houston State University “Since 1974, the total percentage of black officers in the Armed Forces has increased from 2.6 to 6.2 percent of all the officers in the DoD.” While this is a step in the right direction there is still much progress to be made both in numbers and in respect. Our current military is made up of only 13.2% African American soldiers.

 

“Distribution of race and ethnicity among the U.S. military.” Statista. CNA Corporation; US Department of Defense, Dec. 2015. Web. 09 May 2017.
“Black Americans in Defense of Our Nation.” Black Americans in Defense of Our Nation. Sam Houston State University, n.d. Web. 09 May 2017. <https://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/AfrAmer.html>