( Part one of this article appeared in yesterday's CRIMSON. )

IN THE past three years, mistrust and hostility between black and white American troops have increased to a dangerous extent. There have been beatings, killings, racial slurs from both sides and cross burnings.

In one incident, more than 200 black inmates of the Long Binh stockade donned white kerchiefs and African-styled robes made from Army blankets and went on a rampage that left one white inmate dead, scores injured and the stockade in shambles. The uprising was one of the worst prison riots in modern Army history. Military officials blamed overcrowding and racial tensions.

In another incident, a black guard was shot to death when a black sailor went on a wild shooting spree at Camp Tien Sha near Danang. That episode followed rioting along China Beach by black Marines and sailors brandishing M-16 rifles.

Other-incidents:

A black Marine sergeant with a reputation for being tough on black militants and a white major narrowly escaped death when a black Marine exploded a grenade under the orderly room of the 5th Communications Battalion at Danang.

Two white sailors were tried for inciting a riot at the Tan My enlisted men's club. They were found guilty of disturbing the peace.

When white officers at Chu Lai refused to give rides to black Marines, they were severely beaten. Later name-calling whites triggered a riot at the enlisted men's club; two whites were so badly injured that they were evacuated home. Clubs at Qui Nhon and a dozen other places have been wrecked by racial melees.

On the walls of bars and latrines through-out the country, whites infuriated blacks by scrawling such phrases as "Niggers eat shit" and "I'd prefer a gook to a nigger."

A fight between black and white Marines at a tank battalion base near Danang almost ended disastrously when a dozen black Marines in black shirts and gloves showed up armed with rifles and grenades to help another black who was being beaten by whites.

At Tan Son Nhut Air Base on the Saigon outskirts, a white trooper was shot and wounded by a black GI he had been stalking with shouts of "I'm going to kill you, nigger." The white was described as a race baiter and a bully.

Roving gangs of black 1st Air Cav troopers at Bien Hoa and of 9th Division soldiers at Dong Tam have waylaid unsuspecting whites.

When Martin Luther King was murdered, whites burned crosses at Cam Ranh Bay and flew Confederate flags over bases at Danang. After appearing on the cover of Time for the story of "The Negro in Vietnam," Army Airborne Sgt. Clide Brown found a cross burning outside his tent.

"The military establishment is hailed as being one of the most democratic institutions in America," observed Petersen. "This implies that everything is as it should be. there are no separate and dual standards. Once the young black arrives in the military, however, he finds that this is not the case. The military is simply an extension of American society. Even though the rules have been written to make opportunities readily available and equal, you'll run into one or two prejudiced individuals who can influence 15 blacks who will influence others. The harm grows. Furthermore, in any war zone, once you've committed your life to a 'true cause' and find that you are still subjected to different standards, it tends to infuriate you to the extreme. That is what's happening out here."

The black soldier is no longer silent over the discrimination he experienced a decade ago. "When I came into the Army in 1956 everything was quiet," said Maj. Wardell C. Smith of Des Moines, lowa, a black who was inspector general for the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. "No one was raising any hell about the prejudice and discrimination going on. The Negro soldier didn't know which way to go as far as speaking out against it. Every time he tried to, he got kicked in the head. Now they can speak and somebody will listen. And some feel that since they are going to face death, it doesn't matter what happens."