I'm curious as to how many Tuskegee Airmen are still around. This strikes me as a grand-standing "feel-good" gesture which should have been done at least 30 years earlier.
You are absolutely right about waiting too damned long to give these folks recognition. I attended the WWII Memorial Dedication with my family and was terribly depressed that my "war hero" uncle (combat medic, Pacific, Bushmasters) passed away just 6 months before. He planned on attending, but ended up going only as a glossy photograph. Why did it take 60 years to build it? Who knows - I'm just glad it's there now.