Modeling Future Heroes - A Practical Application of Human Values
Inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen
A Course in Principles, Values, Problem Solving, and Conflict Resolution for Our Schools, Business, and Military
Copyrighted©2004, 2005, 2006, 2007  by Roger F. Cram

Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen and Women?

The Tuskegee Airmen and Women were the first, black, military pilots and support crews in the United States. Starting in 1941, they were an experiment
designed for failure to show everyone that blacks did not possess the intelligence, courage, or ability to fly or manage aircraft. However, despite cruel
discrimination, inferior equipment, unreasonable standards, restricted rights, limited privileges, insufficient opportunities, and little support, the Tuskegee Airmen
succeeded beyond all reason with unprecedented achievements still unmatched today! They fought and died for a country that gave them fewer rights as citizens
than were often granted captured German soldiers confined in US military prisoner-of-war camps.

Because of their incredible success, they were often kept a secret, thus they did not embarrass the military leaders, congressmen, senators, and
other government officials that were so openly vocal about their impending failure and incompetence.
 

How did the Tuskegee Airmen Overcome So Many Obstacles While Under Such Duress?

When the Tuskegee Airmen’s endurance was questioned, their reply was to endure. When the Tuskegee Airmen’s reliability scrutinized, they
answered with dependability and trust. The Tuskegee Airmen knew responding with insults to those demeaning them would only make them
demeaning as well, and creating less than excellent work for those believing them incompetent would only prove their critics correct. To those
who treated them without dignity, they were not indignant, and to those showing them disrespect, they were not disrespectful. The Tuskegee
Airmen decided how they behaved; they did not base it on how others behaved toward them. To demonstrate their exceptional internal values,
the Tuskegee Airmen formed an allegiance with those plotting their failure and demise, and to validate their strength of character, they excelled
beyond expectations for those believing them to be substandard. Therefore, each morning the Tuskegee Airmen tried to take total control, not
over others, but over how they reacted to them.

The Tuskegee Airmen's ability to accomplish nearly impossible tasks while operating in an environment of extreme duress is a talent that must
be passed on to others, and the knowledge of how to defeat one's enemies while maintaining their enemy's dignity is a skill that must be preserved for
the enrichment of future generations.

Today’s economy, competing in a world market with other countries paying cheaper labor, with China and the European Union on the horizon
of becoming dominant economic powers, with many foreign school systems providing a more rigorous and demanding education for their youth,
we, in this country, need to renew our values, ethics, principles, conflict resolution techniques, and problem solving abilities if we expect to compete.

The only thing that is certain anywhere is change, and our country’s reputation, economic dominance, reliability, and accountability are seemingly
in a state of change throughout the world. It is most timely and necessary that the Tuskegee Airmen’s values be instilled in this nation – in our schools, in
our youth, in our businesses, in our governmental agencies, and in our families – everywhere!
 

Overcoming Obstacles - The Tuskegee Airmen's Bread and Butter

Dictionary Definitions of Obstacles: something that impedes one's progress, something that offers resistance to success, something interfering with the completion of one's goals.