Was Petersen right?

Anyone?

<When Petersen admitted to the killing of Waters, his simple reason was that 'some things need getting rid of,' I personally would never have condoned killing such a man regardless of his despicable character, but do you think that to an extent he was justified in murdering Waters under the circumstances in which his company was being mistreated by their own commanding officer?>

No. While I understand what Peterson did, it was still wrong. It was still murder. Waters was a thoroughly despicable character, racist, and abusive, but still the killing was not in any wise justified. In fact, I seriously doubt that the law officer in Peterson's court-martial would permit such a defense. It would never be allowed as a defense in a civil court either.
This is not to say that Waters' character would not have any play; it would, be a factor in determining the penalty, either life imprisonment, or hanging.
But Peterson was still guilty of murder.

He was wrong. Has anyone ever met a black WW 1 vet? Well I have. My grandfather was one along with a few of his friends. He told me about how the white man went over to France and told people that black men had tails. They were so worried that the black soldier was going to go after white french wpmen. They thought of they made up a story like that. He said people would walk up to him and look at from behind, hw could he sit down, they would even ask if they could see it, the tail.

Eventually that story of course was disproven but imagine the people that you are fighting for calling you a animal? In the end French treated black men soldiers as hero's, not this country, they treated them like animals, with tails! We must remember where most of those Army bases were and still are, in the deep south. My father was a WW2 vet and he was stationed in Alabama and he said it was terrible down there. I had a boyfriend who was a Vietnam vet and he was stationed down sought too and he said white guy would give them hell. He had seen white guys kill black men during combat because they could.

Imagine how it was in WW 1 for a black man stationed down in Mississippi with a whole lot of white southern soldiers and most of these bigots were your commanding officers. many of these black soldier came from up north too. Then imagine staying in the army for 20 plus years with the same type of people running your life.

Then WW2 comes and they are still treated like garbage. Nazi prisoners were treated better then black soldiers and that is a fact. Peterson should of known the self hatred amassed by a black soldier who has been in the army since 1915. He hated CJ and I hated him too, the guitar playing country boy because he represented what he had to act like for so many years being in the army. the Yessa man. He like the Denzal Washington character because he was who he wanted to be, but could not because he hated himself so much.

And as we know the oppressed become even worse oppressers when they get some power. I feel that the lawyer knew that Peterson should of known this and that is why he asked him what gives him the right to do what he did? He should his history, he should of known where Waters came from and why he was the way he was. This not excuse Waters from what he was doing , but in his own way I think Waters was trying to toughen those guys up and make sure that they did not get into any trouble because he knew what would happen if the white officers got a hold of them.


I do not think most people realize the magnitude of pain our black soldiers have gone through. And they keep fighting for this country even though they were segregated, paid less, treated worse then the nazi's by their own country. And when they returned from fighteing they were barred from enjoying the simple pleasure of life such as buying a house because of place like Levittown that had deed restrictions about selling to black people. And getting a education because many schools would not allow black people to study there. My uncle Earl was a Tuskegee Airman, look at where that is at, Alabama. They were not even allowed to fly until later on in the war. They even had biogted leaders who treated them like they were dumb.

Congress did every thing they could to keep them from fighting. When he got home do you think a american airline company would hire him or other Airman? He had to leave this country and go fly for BOAC. And forget about buying a house. THe problem was so bad my grandfather who was in real estate had to build middle class housing in St Albans so these vets would be able to buy a good place to live.
So next time you see a old black soldier from WW2 think about that because if you do no one would asking if Peterson was right. Thank god most black vets do not have the self hate Peterson had, and it is a wonder.

Waters felt that a black man at that time had to work twice as hard for half the glory. He was prparing his men for what they would face in the real world.

Waters was a piece of sh!t who deserved to die.

I'm happiest...in the saddle.

When my mother and I watched the film on TV, from start to end, we were divided over the fate of Waters. I thought he should have lived (agreeing with you, the OP); my mother didn't. Though Waters wanted his men to be good as (even better than) their white counterparts, being cruel to them didn't help them much.

Peterson was not right. It's the whole point of the film, IMO ... the bitter irony of Peterson judging whether Waters was fit to be a Negro when Waters had done the same thing to CJ. But after CJ killed himself, Waters understood that he hadn't done his race a service; all he had done was help the other race the service of taking out another threatening black male -- one who was stronger and faster, and could swing the bat better than the white guys. And that's why Waters tells Peterson "they still hate you" right before he got shot. He had realized that he wasn't helping the black race by being complicit in CJ's death -- he was only helping the whites who hated the blacks.

I think that's such a powerful message, which is why this is one of my all-time favorite films. Of course, so is Amadeus, so I can't say that Soldier's Story got screwed, necessarily, at Oscar that year.

Davenport was silent after Peterson made his statement about Waters because he agreed with him. But then he collected himself and, out of duty, asked Peterson what right he had to decide who was fit to be negro. When Peterson and Smalls were taken away, Davenport cries at the window because he knew that what he had just asked Peterson was the question that should have been asked Waters. Also, the duties of his job and his cultural empathy were in conflict; he wasn't thrilled about putting his 'own' away.