Whereas, for over 200 years, Black service members of the Armed Forces have fought and given their lives in every United States conflict since the Revolutionary War; Whereas over 5,000 free and enslaved Black colonials fought with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War; Whereas nearly 40,000 Black soldiers died over the course of the Civil War; Whereas more than 350,000 African Americans served in segregated units during World War I and an estimated 770 died; Whereas more than 1,200,000 African-American men and women served in segregated units in every branch of the United States Armed Forces during World War II, with over 700 dying in war operations; Whereas Black members of the Armed Forces fought the forces of fascism abroad while battling racism on United States soil and in the United States military; Whereas, in 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 to desegregate the Armed Forces, and an estimated 600,000 Black members of the Armed Forces served in the Korean War, with more than 5,000 giving their lives to stop the invasion of South Korea by communist forces; Whereas approximately 300,000 African Americans served in the Vietnam War, and 7,267 Black Americans died; Whereas nearly 25 percent of all members of the Armed Forces who served in the Persian Gulf War were Black, and 63 Black men and 3 Black women died in military operations during that war; and Whereas between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 United States individuals served in the Armed Forces during the Global War on Terror, and more than 7,000 died, with Black members of the Armed Forces making up 21 percent of the Army, 17 percent of the Marine Corps, 10 percent of the Air Force, 10 percent of the Navy, and 5.8 percent of the Coast Guard, despite representing 13 percent of the population; Now, therefore, be it—