Jason LefkowitzJust to expand on Mr. Bouie's point here a little: racism makes you stupid, but in war, racism makes you ESPECIALLY stupid.
Racism leads you to overestimate yourself and underestimate your adversary, both of which will leave you flat-footed when your adversary manages to exceed your meager expectations of them. You won't know how to respond, because you'll be too lost trying to figure out how they did it in the first place.
U.S. soldiers in Vietnam spent a lot of time mocking the Viet Cong as "peasants in black pajamas," which became embarrassing when the peasants in black pajamas started defeating them
Eric Likness