War in the United States during WWII was waged by citizen soldiers that represented a cross-section of our citizens taken by the draft from all social classes. During the Vietnam War this changed and those who got drafted tended to come from the lower classes, so that Black and Latino soldiers represented twice the percentage of soldiers that they groups represented in the general population, while predominantly White students were able to avoid the draft by staying in school with a II-S student deferment. It is no accident that the Vietnam War came to an end shortly after the draft lottery was brought into existence to create more equity in the draft by finally subjecting all men 18 and over -- irrespective of school status -- to being drafted.
With the elimination of the draft, American wars are no being declared by Congress as is required by the U.S. Constitution, and are almost exclusively being fought by soldiers who leave school without either the tolerance of those different than themselves or the possibility of gainful employment -- both of which come from being well educated. The rhetoric in our society still almost exclusively deals with people of color being discriminated against by the dominate White and comparatively affluent people who control this country. However, the endemic racism that pits inner-city minorities of color against each other remains unscathed by education or the social
