The Battle of Manners St

April 3, 2023 3:15 PM

April 3rd marked the anniversary of a 1943 riot between US and New Zealand servicemen over Māori soldiers drinking at the Allied Services Club in Wellington. News of the brawl was suppressed at the time. And while war clearly forged solidarity between Pākeha and Māori soldiers, New Zealand was still practicing its own local form of segregation.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen (11 comments total)

"The Americans are making a great experiment in working out a democratic way of life ... It is a difficult task and it is not for us to embarrass them, even if we have different views on how race relationships should be treated in our own country and in the empire."
posted by elkevelvet at 4:01 PM on April 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Greatest Generation, folks!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:25 PM on April 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

See also the Battle of Bamber Bridge (in the UK).
posted by praemunire at 4:28 PM on April 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

There was also a riot in Brisbane, Australia around the same time. It's fun finding out how much the Americans were resented in World War 2, particularly due to their comfort with racial segregation. The other allies weren't exactly accommodating to black people, but even then the Americans were beyond the pale in the strictness and ruthlessness of their segregation.
posted by Merus at 4:47 PM on April 3, 2023 [11 favorites]

I knew about the unofficial housing segregation, but not that it was actual law. Thanks for the links Joe!
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 5:19 PM on April 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yankees Go Home

Dow Jones going into a stall
Spray paint saying it on every wall
The climb was fine, now it's time to decline and fall

Overpaid, oversexed and over here
Get smart, gringo, disappear
The Hun's at the gates of Rome
Yankee go home
posted by mark k at 6:03 PM on April 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

other US marines and local soldiers soon joined the stoush, egged on by civilian loafers and a rough element who were "always trying to cause trouble".

So proud of my hometown. Tag yourself, I'm a civilian loafer.

But also we don't have a lot of moral high ground given our army was segregated in WW1 (based on Shadbolt's Once on Chunuk Bair, anyway).
posted by Pink Frost at 7:53 PM on April 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

There was also a riot in Brisbane, Australia around the same time.

The nightlife district back then (and now) was Fortitude Valley, an inner city suburb. If you put your fingers up to indicate two, with your fingers facing outward, that was a common signal to the bus driver you wanted two tickets to Fortitude Valley.

Well, US Servicemen on leave earned a bunch of scorn from locals for their behavior, and if you know anything about UK/AUS rude gestures, the same two finger indicator towards these servicemen - but with fingers faced inwards - along with the phrase "why don't you get 'two to the valley,' mate" turned into that day and age's version of GFY.

Newstead Brewing just outside the Valley still brews their Two to the Valley IPA, as far as I'm aware.
posted by GamblingBlues at 4:27 AM on April 4, 2023 [6 favorites]

It's fun finding out how much the Americans were resented in World War 2

I wonder about that. I mean, I have no difficulty imagining Yanks being dicks to the locals in any place that they've ever gone, but the whole "Overpaid, oversexed and over here" thing seems like a tacit acknowledgement that their own soldiers were being underpaid. Seems like a good way for the toffs to avoid giving their own enlisted a raise would be to encourage resentment against the "invaders" from overseas. Just a theory.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:17 AM on April 4, 2023

I mean, I have no difficulty imagining Yanks being dicks to the locals in any place that they've ever gone, but the whole "Overpaid, oversexed and over here" thing seems like a tacit acknowledgement that their own soldiers were being underpaid.

There was a pretty significant wealth differential between America and its allies, in part because America had entered late into both World Wars and had reaped the benefit from European decimation in World War 1, and the Americans were not shy about flaunting their wealth. I've heard that the American Red Cross in particular ended up generating a lot of resentment - they'd deliver care packages to American GIs, but only _American_ GIs, refusing to give these gifts to their allies stationed in the same locations.
posted by Merus at 7:41 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

There were also several 'race riots' in Britain between Black and white US soldiers, with the locals often on the former side.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:27 PM on April 5, 2023