The film A Soldier’s Story, by Norman Jewison, is a murder mystery story that allows us to see the way African Americans soldiers were treated during World War two. The murder of Sgt. Waters, an African American sergeant in the United States army who would push his men in order to prove to the other white officers he could lead men just like them. Even if Sgt. Waters believed that by pushing him men he was helping prove themselves to the white soldiers, the racism and the ideals of masculinity in the United States army would lead to the death of C.J. Memphis and the murder of Sgt. Waters because African American soldiers were not treated the same, many African American soldiers did not deal with the inequalities well, and the ideals of masculinity…show more content… As the views come to find out Sgt. Waters has been murder not too far outside of the base and the popular belief on the base is that he was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. However, Washington sends Captain Davenport, an African American officer from the Judge Advocate General (also known as JAG), to investigate Sgt. Waters murder. When Captain Davenport gets on base he go to talk to the base Colonel who is shocked to see a African American officer and says that many of his men would not have seen a “colored officer before”. They concluded their conversation with giving Captain Davenport three days to investigate Sgt. Waters murder. The next stop that Captain Davenport makes is to see Captain Taylor would was originally supportive of this investigation until he meets Captain Davenport because he he thinks that an African American officer will have little success in catching those responsible for Sgt. Waters murder. Now these scenes both show the disbelief in Captain Davenport only based on the color of his skin and not in his actual ability to do his job. If Washington had sent a white officer to investigate the murder he would not be facing the obstacles
