Wilbert Walters was twenty-three in 1952, when he returned home to New Orleans after crossing into adulthood in the US Air Force. The past four years had taught him both an overseas world free of racism and the dark side of Jim Crow through a stint in the deep South. So why did he say the year back home was “like breathing in fresh air?”
His youth had something to do with it. His future yet to be written, he described that year as a time of freedom to think, dream and play.
For young Black men, the time after WWII, including the Korean War years (1950-53) expanded horizons. The country’s eyes were on returning GI’s. These men had saved other countries in Europe and Asia. American pride was on the rise and prosperity looked inevitable. A Black GI like Walters was still constricted by racism, but while abroad he had tasted the freedom of being treated like anyone else. That taught him to believe change back home was possible, even on its brink.
By age twenty-three, Coach Walters knew the gut-punches of racism first hand. With his Black eyes open, he believed the future was about to change. He was ready and the air was fresh.
I want to learn from him. I want to face the hardships of our current world with that same belief in a better future. Why not aspire? We can breathe. Just breathe. Until the air is fresh again.
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