McKinley Bailey: A Rocket Scientist and Civil Rights Warrior with Mesmerizing Brainpower

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on October 31, 2025

Redstone Arsenal’s U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) in Huntsville, Alabama, the site of an epic civil rights battle in the early 1980s.

An Editorial Opinion

In the 1982, I represented McKinley Bailey in a federal civil rights lawsuit against Redstone Arsenal’s U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) in Huntsville, Alabama.  Bailey, who had a genius IQ, was a GS-11 aerospace engineer who specialized in designing missile guidance systems.  

Bailey was also president of the local chapter of the NAACP in Huntsville.

Bailey was a sharp, confident, and very personable man. When Bailey walked into a room, his presence commanded attention without him speaking a word.

I loved being Bailey's civil rights lawyer. His swagger was awesome.

MICOM Repeatedly Denied McKinley Bailey Promotions Soley Because He was Black

Bailey repeatedly applied for promotions to available GS-12 supervisory positions within MICOM for which he was more than qualified.  Even though Bailey had the highest test scores and best job performance evaluations in the pool of applicants for these promotional opportunities, lesser qualified white GS 11 engineers were promoted over him each time.

In some instances, the white applicants were given clandestine access to the MICOM’s promotional tests. Yet, they still could not outscore Bailey on the tests.

Furthermore, evidence of a statistically significant underrepresentation of black employees in MICOM's overall workforce and in supervisory positions buttressed Bailey’s claims of racially discriminatory in the agency's hiring and promotional practices.

Bailey's Case Played Out While President Ronald Reagan was Peddling False Claims of "Reverse Discrimination" Against White People

Bailey fought his case during President Ronald Reagan’s political heyday.  Reagan railed against affirmative action. He also led a racially charged movement that peddled false claims that whites were the victims of rampant “reverse discrimination” in the workplace.

Reagan's "reverse discrmination"movement was the precursor to today's anti-DEI movement. Both movements spewed this baseless and racially inflamatory theme: For blacks to be hired and/or promoted in the workplace, employers had to discriminate against more qualified white applicants.

At the time, there were less than a handful of adjudicated court cases nationwide that found "reverse discrimination" against whites in the workplace. In contrast, there were thousands of adjudicated racial discrimination cases in favor of black job applicants/employees like McKinley Bailey who had been intentionally discriminated against in the workplace because of their race.

A Hard Case from a Technical Standpoint, But a Successful Outcome

Considering the technical aspects of both his existing aerospace engineering job and the promotional opportunities Bailey sought, his racial discrimination cases was the hardest one I have ever tried.  I had to become a de facto expert in missile guidance systems to know the precise technical questions to ask Bailey and to cross-examine the MICOM witnesses who denied him the promotions he had earned.

Following a bench trial in 1984, a federal judge determined that Bailey had suffered discrimination in MICOM’s promotional practices based solely upon his race.  The court awarded Bailey a well-deserved promotion to a GS-12 supervisory position in MICOM’s missile guidance systems division, injunctive relief that barred future employment discrimination against him at MICOM, full back pay, and attorney’s fees.  

Punitive damages were not available against this U.S. government entity, even though the racial discrimination against Bailey was intentional and egregious.

Because of His Incredible Bravery and Mesmerizing Brainpower, I Still Remember Bailey's Case 43 Years Later

Despite the passage of 43 years, I still remember McKinley Bailey's case like it happened yesterday. Bailey was incredibly brave and his brainpower was mesmerizing.

When I see the anger on the faces of today’s anti-DEI crowd, it reminds me the the anger I saw on the faces of the MICOM officials who repeatedly denied McKinley Bailey the promotions he deserved. It was pure racial hatred then, and now.

Despite my requests for assistance, not one member of Alabama’s all-white Congressional delegation came to Bailey’s aid before, during, or after his trial.  They simply did not give a damn about the protection of Bailey's civil rights.

McKinley Bailey served in his new job with distinction and fought the day-to-day resentment of superiors and subordinates at MICOM like a real man for as long as he could.  I was extremely proud of Bailey's intellectual acumen, courage, work at MICOM, patriotism, and contribution to humanity.

With the passage of time, McKinley Bailey and I lost contact with each other. I moved on to the cases of other deserving civil rights warriors and other battlefields, but I never forgot about McKinley Bailey's remarkable contribution to uplifting humanity.

McKinley Bailey's rightful place in American history is now preserved. None of today's political clowns can erase it.