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202Malik Davis Interview Transcript January 2nd 1990 Reporter What's up guys It's Jessie Langford speaking from Macon Public Library in New York City and today we re interviewing Vietnam War vet Malik Davis Davis was born on April 3rd 1947 He grew up in Boston with his mom and brothers but he now resides in Harlem New York As we get into this interview he's going to tell us a bit about himself and then go on to talk about the war So Mr Davis were you drafted or volunteered Malik This is bringing back memories Ah It was the second day of August in 1966 when I received my draft notice in the mail I got into a huge argument with my dad about this he was keen on the idea while I wanted nothing to do with that bull I was not tryna fight for a country like America that wanted nothing to do with me I come from a military family so all my grandfathers and an uncle served and you know father kept insisting on me going so you know how that goes Reporter Can you explain what do you mean when you say not fighting for a country that wanted nothing to do with you Malik Racism in America is crazy People really be teaching their children to hate It got so bad that they tried to make it illegal for us to get certain basic rights just because we black
Any racism on the battlefield Malik Surprisingly there was no direct racism I was actually friends with a few white dudes and when you're fighting the only thing you worrying about is keeping your life But I just ain't like the ideas that they tried to drill into you We were people of color fighting other people of color But apparently these people were way worse not even human We couldn't even address them as human and it was ridiculous They tried to make us give off the same hate we receiving and I know what that hate feels like It ain't good I won t wish it on worst enemy Reporter Describe your other dislikes about what was occurring in this war Malik Well we were fighting for someone else s freedom when we didn't even have freedom our dang selves Reporter Why did you say freedom in a sarcastic tone Malik I mean when you think about it when we were rallying and marching for our civil rights white people tried to control it For instance the March on Washington white people were controlling our fight and hid it under the name moderating and that's exactly what they did to the vietnamese people Like I said I didn't want to be in this war Also Martin Luther King Jr a hero was assassinated and I wasn't notified It's like they were trying to keep information away from us so we can continue fighting their war and that's wack Reporter Thanks Mr Davis we'll continue this interview after a quick break