"In 2005, U.S. Army brass panicked after reviewing the results of a specially commissioned study that showed a 41 percent drop in recruitment of people of African descent over a five year period. “It’s alarming,” said a general in charge of Army recruitment. He went on to attribute the de facto boycott to the war in Iraq and the views of teachers, preachers, coaches and other “influencers” in the black community who were urging young people not to sign on to what was ultimately acknowledged by many to be a pointless, senseless invasion and occupation of a sovereign country.

At the time, Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel was quoted as saying: “I have not found a black person in support of this war in my district.” Little wonder. Parents and grandparents still had painful memories of veterans of the U.S. debacle in Vietnam who returned broken physically, mentally and spiritually. The war-resisting spirit of these elders was revived by the then most recent imperialist escapade, and they made clear to their children and grandchildren that they had better “just say ‘no’” to military recruiters when they came calling."