Marine Corps Stories: Stained Heroes

The late afternoon sun blazed across the Arizona sky above the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station.

“We swore an oath,” Sergeant Kayla Bennington said. Cocoa brown skin enveloped her. A toned figure and freckles all over her face created a portrait of beauty. Her regulation braided reddish brown hair completed her comely appearance.

She occupied an office space replete with flat screens, grey desks and black ergonomic chairs.

“We swore an oath,” Sergeant Della Morricone said, reaching for her cover. She was also a beauty, with olive skin, jade-green eyes and a trim figure.

The two Marines had about fifteen hours to kill. The lance corporals and PFCs had already cleaned up the space. The NCOs had let them start their liberty this past Friday afternoon. So Sergeants Bennington and Morricone shared a moment together while the gunny was away talking with the captain.

“That’s what keeps this thing together,” Della said. She sat with her head tilted slightly. “Besides the most important political document in human history, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution is what binds this Corps and country.”

“Damn right. We raised our right hands to be held accountable under the flag for the protection of the Marines and the nation. I agree with it all, but weren’t there slave masters amongst those who wrote those documents?” Kayla asked.

“Yes. And?” Asked Della.

“And?! Girl, have you no control over your brain?” Kayla replied indignantly.

Della scoffed, “Completely. Those men were mixed. I’m not talking ‘mixed’ like you being black and white. I’m saying they had mixed ideas. We must still look at them as heroes despite their wickedness. Now, you can argue that they were men of their time. The truth is they were enlightened men who clung to the Original Sin of slavery in this country.”

About eleven minutes remained before it was time to go on their own liberty. Kayla tapped her own forehead thoughtfully.

“Okay, so they owned slaves. But they wrote some of the most eloquent words ever. That’s the clincher. The fact that they were men of letters and of barbarism has to be taken into account,” Kayla said.

“We swore an oath,” Della spoke with a sigh. “No matter what they did outside their powers as statesmen, they drew up papers that revolutionized the world, and continue to transform people’s lives.”

Kayla picked an Irish pennant from her cover. “I respectfully disagree, soon-to-be Staff Sergeant Morricone,” she said with a smirk.

“Why is that, Kayla? Because they were white?”

“Yes.”

“If the black slave owners who collected their own kind would’ve drafted the Constitution, would you have a different tune?” Della asked.

Kayla thought for a moment then said, “No.”

“And why is that Sergeant Bennington?”

“Because the black slave owner would have at least been like the owners like the ones in Africa. The white man raped the women, brutalized the men, and split up children,” Kayla said.

“And you think that that started in America? Why do you think you look like you do? Both your parents are black. Yes, white slave owners did all those things, but it started in Africa. Hell, it all started in Africa,” Della said.

“But we’re talking about the land of freedom. The grand irony of this country is that it was founded with slavery in place, but not based upon the condition.”

“I still think it’s a bloody mess. That Constitution was written in the blood of black people,” Kayla retorted.

Della rolled her eyes. “You’re not getting it, K. This nation was established to secure the freedoms of—”

“White people?”

“All people.”

“Okay.”

“There’s no ‘okay.’ It just is. Look, my people had to come over here and go through Ellis Island. My great-grandfather had to clean up broken glass from gunfights with the Mafia who shot up his store. Now, in just three generations, a second Marine in the family, and the first to go to college is standing before you. Now, tell me America isn’t the most virtuous nation ever.”

Kayla shook her head. “Yes, America is the most virtuous, but that was based on the backs of slaves for 246 years,” Sergeant Bennington said.

“Well, Jefferson and Madison only had a hand in a fraction of that time period.” Said Della.

“This is true, but the fact remains they’re stained heroes. Their ink will forever outweigh the blood shed because of the fact that some of the Founders were slave masters. I love this country for those documents, not the flawed men who wrote them. I appreciate their minds, but their bodies were like rotten fruit in the sun,” Kayla said.

Della clasped her hands together. “I think we’ve reached an agreement. We swore an oath.”

“We swore an oath.”