Final answer:
White, middle-class men in the 1960s could avoid the draft more easily than African American men due to college deferments, biased draft boards, and occupational exemptions. Discrimination in the military and civilian life disproportionately affected African American men's chances of receiving deferments.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you were white and middle class in the 1960s, you might be more likely to avoid the draft than an African American man due to several reasons, one of which was draft deferments for college. Due to socioeconomic status, white middle-class youth had greater access to higher education and thus could take advantage of the exemption for college students to delay military service until after graduation. Additionally, draft boards, which were often biased, granted deferments more readily to skilled workers or those with dependents, categories white men were more likely to fall into than their African American counterparts.
African American men, on the other hand, experienced significant discrimination both in civilian life and within the military system. This discrimination often extended to the draft process, where they were less likely to be granted deferments based on the importance of their civilian jobs or family responsibilities. This issue was compounded for African Americans in the South, where local draft boards sometimes selected disproportionately high numbers of black men, unduly burdening them with military service and protecting local white men from combat.
Moreover, during this period, the military-industrial complex also had exemptions for certain skilled workers, which often excluded African Americans due to historic discrimination in trade skills. The local draft boards were also known to make arbitrary decisions that could influence an individual's likelihood of being drafted, often to the disadvantage of black men.