Did you see the documentary Breath of Freedom about civil rights for black people in the US?

What did you think about it regarding black American soldiers and their experience in Germany?

I saw it on the Smithsonian channel. A good amount of time was spent on black soldiers in the US military who served in WWII and several years later, and one thing that gave me pause was how the black soldiers spoke of how they were treated well by the Germans while America still had so many racist policies. Colin Powell is interviewed in the documentary and he recalls being a young soldier in Germany hoping that the southern states (I think he mentioned Alabama) will be like Germany within a few years.

My brain was in an unexpected twist with mixed feelings. In the film it talked about how the Germans had empathy for the blacks because the Germans were a defeated people at the time.

The irony that the Germans (not all Germans I know) who had been homocidal “racists” were now scene by the US black military population as treating them better than their own country, I just didn’t know what to do with that information.

The documentary also talked about black soldiers helping, participating, in the fight for civil rights in America partly because they had experienced equality while in Europe.

What did you think as you watched the film? Being Jewish the whole German thing was interesting and a little mind boggling.

The documentary had much more regarding civil rights in America. It was very informative, I recommend it if you have not seen it.