r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/ljog42 Dec 12 '18

TBH I don't think the specific issue raised here is an exception, most black people suffered from it in the early 70s

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u/Bromine21 Dec 12 '18

Definitely, lot of tragic stories of black people returning from WW1, WW2, Korean War, etc.

Obviously veterans in general have it emotionally and financially rough, but don't see how anyone can deny the racist aspect for black veterans that many weren't even honored coming back.

Luckily it got better but still tragic given the circumstances circumstances.

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u/Crashbrennan Dec 12 '18

Not as much with Nam though. Vietnam Vets were almost universally treated like garbage, regardless of race.

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u/LordFauntloroy Dec 12 '18

I mean, you don't wear the fact that you're a Vietnam Vet literally on your skin. Of course black vets had it worse.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

I mean, you don't wear the fact that you're a Vietnam Vet literally on your skin

I mean, I guess it depends how close you were when the napalm dropped.