The Boston city council honored the Tuskegee Airmen and General Woody Woodhouse on Wednesday for their efforts in World War II.
The mostly Black military pilots and airmen were pioneers, breaking racial barriers.
The move comes days after the Air Force removed training materials featuring the nearly all Black fighting force to comply with President Donald Trump‘s diversity, equity and inclusion removal order. The move was reversed a short time later.
“It’s a struggle of adversity. In other words, Black people were the only group in America that had to fight to fight,” Woodhouse said Wednesday in Boston. “Doesn’t that sound ironic? But we did it once, and we will do it again.”
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Woodhouse and the rest of the group were recognized for their role in desegregating the U.S. military.
At 98, Woodhouse still calls himself a Roxbury boy.
“It’s almost like the day I was baptized, or as my wife would want me to say, the day we got married,” Woodhouse said.
The honor comes at a time of uncertainty, with the Air Force pulling training videos featuring the Tuskegee Airmen amid Trump’s crackdown on DEI initiatives. Other training materials on the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs — another group that broke barriers during World War II — were also removed.
The Air Force said Sunday that both videos will, in fact, be taught.
The flurry of action left Woodhouse confused.
“Well, I have many thoughts — big thoughts, little thoughts, thoughts of anger, thoughts of disappointment,” Woodhouse said.
Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan says regardless of President Trump’s order on DEI, Boston will continue to tell these important stories.
“This is American history, and the idea that we would pick and choose who are part of our history and who are part of shaping it based on some political agenda is not OK,” Durkan said. “It impacts nationally and locally, and it hurts our ability to inspire the next generation to serve.”
The councilor said Woodhouse is not just a hero of the past, he’s shaping the next generation.
“It’s something to treasure, and I’m going to pass this on to all the young boys and girls here of Boston,” Woodhouse said.
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