Racism in the Military

[nodropinufaka]

So, what is the value of your statement, then? Do you just want everyone to know you’re aggrieved? If we wouldn’t understand, then how are we supposed to try to make things better? That attitude is kind of a passive aggressive cop out.

What would you like me to say?

Where is the value in my statement?

Do you want me to tell you about the time I was an Ensign and a senior officer told me that I was only there because of affirmative action? NVM the fact I had a Masters Degree from a good school with a 4.0 GPA.

Or the time the wardroom made a call sign about me that was a ridiculous mockery of my culture?

But what do I get to say in those situations? Nothing, cause if I complain about the wardroom I look like the bad guy.

If I said anything about that senior officer I would get outcast and told I’m being insensitive.

So that leaves me no option but to just suck it up and move on.

Those are just two actual incidents that didn’t even begin to explain my actual experience.

but I’m sure this post is going to cause people to run to the defense of this organization and say it was taken out of context, it’s not actual racism, or I’m being insensitive.

 

[taxi1]

but I’m sure this post is going to cause people to run to the defense of this organization and say it was taken out of context, it’s not actual racism, or I’m being insensitive.

So what? Just tell your truth, as it is.

 

[skybert]

I have a black friend who is pretty high put in management for a major pharmaceutical company.

During my DH tour in JAX, we were neighbors and spent a lot of time together. We’d go to movies, Gator games in Gainesville, etc.

He and I went to Spije Lee’s Malcolm X movie. We walked into the theater and I was the only white guy. I got called every derogatory name for a white person there is. The blavks were pissed that a white guy was going to see a black movie.

Rick was born and raised in Gainesville. After the game, we go to diners in his old neighborhood. Every time I would get called derogatory names.

My ex mother-in-law is Japanese. She lived with us in JAX. Blacks in stores, restaurants, etc would treat her like shit and call her derogatory names.

I also attended a Norfolk, VA intercity high school in the mid to late 1970s that was 85% black. I lived the other side of bad race relations.

Racism is everywhere and happens to everyone by everyone. To say it is limited to non-whites is absolutely false.

Someone within an organization might be discriminated against by someone else within the same organization but that doesn’t mean the organization is racist. The military is not racist.

Your example and mine have nothing to do with the military. I’m not sure way you post yours because it has nothing to do the the question of whether the military as an organization is racist. I post mine to show racism goes both ways.

I get so tired of people claiming it’s always the whites that are racist (not saying you make this claim). My belief that there are just as many blacks who are racist against whites as there are whites who are racist against blacks (by percentage not actual numbers are there are more whites than blacks). But that is not “news worthy” as there once was a very real organizational / institutional racism against blacks. So it’s okay for blacks / non-whites to be racist against whites. This is demonstrated easily by the simple fact a black guy can call a white guy a cracker but heaven help the white guy using the n word.

Articles like this NYT piece play into thus mindset are designed to stir the pot. They do far more far to race relations then they help. They are not news but rather an attempt to make news.

I grew up going to inner city schools as well and you are so right.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

So what? Just tell your truth, as it is.

Pet peeve:

What is the difference between “your truth” and “the truth”.

 

[Griz882]

What would you like me to say?

Where is the value in my statement?

Do you want me to tell you about the time I was an Ensign and a senior officer told me that I was only there because of affirmative action? NVM the fact I had a Masters Degree from a good school with a 4.0 GPA.

Or the time the wardroom made a call sign about me that was a ridiculous mockery of my culture?

But what do I get to say in those situations? Nothing, cause if I complain about the wardroom I look like the bad guy.

If I said anything about that senior officer I would get outcast and told I’m being insensitive.

So that leaves me no option but to just suck it up and move on.

Those are just two actual incidents that didn’t even begin to explain my actual experience.

but I’m sure this post is going to cause people to run to the defense of this organization and say it was taken out of context, it’s not actual racism, or I’m being insensitive.

All I can say is that I feel you are confusing institutional racism with individual racism. As an organization the Armed Forces are not necessarily “racist,” there is simply too much evidence to counter that, too many success stories, That said, there is no doubt that thinking (and unthinking) racists are a significant part of the armed forces. Sadly, you ran directly into a thinking racist, a person who decided to measure you by the color of your skin and you have likely run into unthinking racists. But, those are individuals. The institution, it seems, enabled you to learn a critical skill that you still use to this day to enable your civilian career. The institution gave you the tools to improve yourself. It promises nothing more to any of us, regardless of skin color.

Sadly, I fear you will continue to run into other people like the senior officer you mention. You will encounter individuals who, despite their education, training, or place in the world are genuinely blind to their flaws. Blame them, avoid them, be better than them. Clearly you are intelligent, capable, and successful. Is there any better revenge?

 

[Brett327]

What would you like me to say?

Where is the value in my statement?

Do you want me to tell you about the time I was an Ensign and a senior officer told me that I was only there because of affirmative action? NVM the fact I had a Masters Degree from a good school with a 4.0 GPA.

Or the time the wardroom made a call sign about me that was a ridiculous mockery of my culture?

But what do I get to say in those situations? Nothing, cause if I complain about the wardroom I look like the bad guy.

If I said anything about that senior officer I would get outcast and told I’m being insensitive.

So that leaves me no option but to just suck it up and move on.

Those are just two actual incidents that didn’t even begin to explain my actual experience.

but I’m sure this post is going to cause people to run to the defense of this organization and say it was taken out of context, it’s not actual racism, or I’m being insensitive.

See, that’s a great start. We’ve all been treated unfairly in our lives and felt frustrated and powerless. Can I understand what exactly what you’ve gone through precisely as well as you can? Probably not, but I think I have a fairly informed and sophisticated understanding of race relations in this country and the oftentimes overlooked inherent systemic remnants of slavery and Jim Crow.

For those of us trying to be allies, we can’t help make incremental changes and correct bad behavior if we don’t know what you’re experiencing. Just know that every time you tell someone that “they wouldn’t understand,” you’re losing a potential ally in your corner. so, while that might feel good in the short term, it’s not a very effective strategy if you’re actually interested in trying to make things better.

 

[nittany03]

So what? Just tell your truth, as it is.

Pet peeve:

What is the difference between “your truth” and “the truth”.

Yeah, as much as I agree with the sentiment, there is no "your truth" or "my truth." There is the truth. None of us have a 100 percent lock on it, but we won't get any closer until we talk to each other about what we see. On this subject or anything. We're all just a bunch of blind people trying to figure out what an elephant is.

 

[taxi1]

Pet peeve:

What is the difference between “your truth” and “the truth”.

Fair question for sure. Basically the truth of his experience, what you infer from it. Griz said it better.

We only see what we can see. The blind guy at the front of the elephant has a whole different understanding of one then that guy at the back.

 

[nodropinufaka]

You’re both right @Brett327 and @Griz882

Thank you for that perspective and I never looked at it that way.

I am grateful for the opportunity of the Navy.

My grandma came from the South Pacific and never finished 8th grade. Her family worked back breaking labor in fields so that we could get a better life.

both my brother and I became officers in the Navy. I’m sure she would be happy about that.

I always try to represent myself well and change people’s mind. It makes me really upset watching people make bad choices because they think since the cards are stacked against them there is no reason to try.

 

[nittany03]

Fair question for sure. Basically the truth of his experience, what you infer from it. Griz said it better.

We only see what we can see. The blind guy at the front of the elephant has a whole different understanding of one then that guy at the back.

But it's important to remember that there is, in fact, an elephant.

 

[Griz882]

You’re both right @Brett327 and @Griz882

Thank you for that perspective and I never looked at it that way.

I am grateful for the opportunity of the Navy.

My grandma came from the South Pacific and never finished 8th grade. Her family worked back breaking labor in fields so that we could get a better life.

both my brother and I became officers in the Navy. I’m sure she would be happy about that.

I always try to represent myself well and change people’s mind. It makes me really upset watching people make bad choices because they think since the cards are stacked against them there is no reason to try.

To be fair, you deserve to be a bit pissed. The senior officer you encountered was, by almost any measure, “the” senior representative of the US Navy. What happened surely stung and yes, it is something I don’t routinely encounter in life. The point I hope we all get in life is that one asshole (or even a bunch) doesn’t make an entire team deplorable. In your case I hope they caught up with the guy, I hope he outed himself in some stupid way.

 

[HAL Pilot]

It makes me really upset watching people make bad choices because they think since the cards are stacked against them there is no reason to try.

Which is why despite any obstacles thrown at you, not just those of racism or prejudice, you will continue to be a success.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

ah yes one quip is now the “the conversation”
The conversation is about a citizen who was murdered, and whose murderer remains uncharged.

That’s the conversation.

He has now been charged, however did anyone else read the preliminary medical examiners report? depending on what the toxicology report finds that could make the prosecutions job a bit difficult.

 

[Brett327]

He has now been charged, however did anyone else read the preliminary medical examiners report? depending on what the toxicology report finds that could make the prosecutions job a bit difficult.

Being altered doesn’t mean a cop gets to execute you. I presume the prosecution will be persuasive on that point.

 

[Jim123]

Being altered doesn’t mean a cop gets to execute you. I presume the prosecution will be persuasive on that point.

Yes, but attributing the cause of death or assigning which causes contributed more and which ones less.

I kinda figured this angle might turn up- when people die in police custody sometimes there's something in their system that unfortunately contributed to their demise. I won't be surprised if the defense pursues this angle (right or wrong has nothing to do with it, it's a defense tactic) or at least make the jury wonder if a normal, healthy, sober, or whatever you want to call it person would have survived.

I sure hope the prosecution is persuasive too.