“Flesh color crayon: now “peach.” Hope.

U-Tapao-Race-Relations-Jan-1973-May-74-001John Calvin Miller,
Fairfield, IA.

“Flesh” color crayon: institutionalized racism revealed

These both relate to an incident at U-Tapao Thailand where I served as Race Relations OIC during the Vietnam war. I helped design an embroidered Brotherhood patch for sale to airmen. When it was first being made, I went to the tailor shop to give approval for it. The Caucasian hand on it was too white. I said to the Thai tailor (with tan-colored skin), “Make it more flesh colored.” Hmm…what color is that?

 

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