<![CDATA[Tuskegee pilots: the gender barrier, again!]]>A week or so ago, J-Bro posted this story on Facebook about Tuskegee pilots Herbert Carter and Mildred Hemmons, two brilliant and determined African American pilots who fell in love mid-air. He went on to a sparkling career in the unit now being commemorated by the film Red Tails. And Mildred?

“She was one of those unfortunate victims of prejudice, bigotry and discrimination,” says Carter, now 94. “She wanted to go as high and as fast as she could.
“If she had been able to get into the Air Corps, she’d have been amazing.”

Herbert Carter is still angry (rightly so) at his wife’s treatment. And now he’s also angry about the school that took only boys to see the movie Red Tails.

Herbert Carter, who flew 77 missions in World War II with only one crash landing, said he was “almost speechless.”

“I’ve heard everything else,” said Carter, 94, in a phone interview. “This is the first time I’ve heard that it was unfit for female students.”…

“My wife would turn flip flops,” Herbert Carter said. “She thought that all human beings were equal, regardless of sex, race, creed or color. She would take great offense to young women being denied this (opportunity).”

Go get ’em, Herbert.

(Thanks, Jender-Parents!)

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