USFK Hosts Racism Forum at Camp Humphreys
U.S. military leaders have been unusually outspoken about the need to address institutional racism amid a growing wave of civil unrest over the latest killing of a black man in police custody.
Many black service members speaking Sunday at a forum organized by U.S. Forces Korea welcomed the outrage but called for words to be translated into deeds.
Sgt. Dasha Long, 35, thanked U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Robert Abrams for tackling the long taboo topic, saying the discussion was an important first step.
“This isn’t new, right? But it feels like it took too long for us to hear something about it,” Long said, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “I Can’t Breathe,” which was uttered by George Floyd before he died as a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25.
“I feel safer outside the country that I serve than I do in it, so I want to know aside from words what actions are going to take place because I’m tired,” she said.
Anger over Floyd’s death, which was captured on video, has sparked massive protests calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality in the United States. It also has led to soul searching in the military, which has long prided itself as promoting diversity.
Nearly 19% of active-duty enlisted service members are black, but that number falls sharply to just under 9% when it comes to officers, according to a 2018 Defense Department demographics report. Many also complain that they are unfairly targeted by the military justice system and receive unfair sentences compared to their white counterparts.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but I am willing to bet that if the Stars and Stripes took a poll most white soldiers stationed in South Korea would also agree that they feel safer there than back in the U.S. So this is not an exclusively a black soldier issue.
As far as the 9% officer issue, this is caused by societal issues larger than the Army. To become an officer you need to have a four year college degree and either commission through ROTC or OCS. If the number of African-Americans graduating from four year universities increases, the number of officers will also increase.
Blacks need to want to become Army Officers and translate that desire into work.
If anyone expects to be handed a commission based on their suntan, they need to join a different army.
setnaffa, based on what, do you say that? I see nowhere in that article that says blacks want to be handed a commission without any meaningful merit.
Where in my answer did you see a request for a pro-Beijing response?