Although it was obviously a set-up, Waters accuses C.J. of killing a white soldier. He calls him a "yossa boss" and chastises him for "bowing and scrapping in white folks' faces." But if C.J. was so subservient to white people, how could this "murdering piece of black trash" have "shot that white boy."
It was a total contradiction that didn't make any sense; it was stupid.
To be a man of color in the Armed forces, in the USA; especially then was a contraindication in and of itself....The Armies were segregated and A. A were treated like crap. So this movie illustrated the crabs in the barrel situation. SGT Walters, was great mouth piece for this. If you notice all of defiance, and bravado, went out of him, when white solider's were around even though he out ranked them.....
The French annexed many North African, need them to fight during the War, they respoected their fighting prowess, and post the war it opened many avenues to them as a whole. It wasn't perfect, but it was a lot better, than what the AA Soliders faced upon return here.......
Well ... that's an interesting point "Chrsmassiah" (I think).
shareStupid or not, CJ was too dumb to see through it. It was all a ploy to get CJ to lose his temper and strike Waters. The accusation was designed to fall flat; Waters either shot the soldier himself or used the opportunity to have Wilkey say that he found a weapon under CJ's rack.
It was never intended for CJ to be set up for real; the manipulation was for him to get a long brig sentence so Waters could effectively crush him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oFPlpAT84g&feature=related
This is the point of his character. In order to rationalize his choices in life, he's ended up taking a lot of contradictory stances. For instance, his self-destructive assumption that Denzel's character is a kindred spirit. When CJ commits suicide, that dismantles the facade he's thrown up over his choices which drives him to drinking.
Amy: I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!