I'm really hoping that the others that have answered this question so far are trying to be funny with their answers because if they are not and actually do feel that way then they are all insane.
There is a very simple explanation to this question and it has NOTHING to do with british speaking men or white men or anything like that.
The reason that Chewie didn't get a medal at the end of ep IV: A New Hope is because Carrie Fisher was not tall enough to do it and they thought that having Chewie kneel down for her to put it on him would HAVE made it look like there was some kind of bias against different species in the Star Wars Universe.
If you want to take it a step further, Chewie DID get his medal eventually. I don't remember what year it was but if I had to make a guess I would say that it was 1997 but whatever the year was he DID get his medal. The MTV Music Videos Awards Show did a big thing and even brought in Carrie Fisher dressed in her Princess Leia outfit to give it to him. Lucas was there, they had Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker there as C3po and R2D2. In many ways the whole thing might have sounded silly or looked goofy to some but as a Star Wars fan I thought it was pretty cool.
May The Force Be With You ...

