Dickerson's 12-year relationship with the Air Force was a much more complex experience than she acknowledges. Perhaps influenced by the approval conservatives give the armed services as a mechanism for upward mobility for minorities, she is given to cognitive dissonance when discussing her sojourn there. It is true that the Air Force gave her the only hand out or leg up she received as a young person. Over the years, she was chosen to fill leadership positions as both an enlisted person and as the offficer she became after several years as an airman. She was a squad leader as a recruit and appointed the leader of her graduating class at Officer Training School.

But, she was mistreated as well. The most harrowing episode occurred when the 22-yeard-old Dickerson was raped and made the 'mistake' of reporting the crime. The unwritten rule in the predominantly male military services at the time was that women were at fault for any sexual abuses committed against them. Debra Dickerson was ostracized. Her assailant, on the other hand, was supported, if not condoned, in his behavior. She was frozen out of her previous social circle, mocked as loose and called crazy. Her commanding officer threatened to have her declared an alcoholic as a precursor to dismissal from the Air Force. The outcome of the case was a two-month sentence in a soft facility for the rapist, who had confessed. Still, Dickerson, who was a Korean language specialist during her enlistment, would remain loyal to the Air Force for another decade.

In the second part of this review, I will address Dickerson's battles with self-hatred and contempt for other African-Americans, her post-Air Force life and her hopes for enobling the African-American working-class.

She discusses both her books on her website.

Note: This entry also appeared at Silver Rights.