Posts Tagged ‘military’
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
(ABC News) A senator is calling on the Defense Department to conduct a system-wide review of alleged hazing incidents in the military, after eight soldiers in Afghanistan were charged in connection with the death of Army Pvt. Danny Chen, who apparently committed suicide in October.
Chen had told family and friends that he was the target of persistent racial taunts and abusive treatment by his comrades in arms.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, requested the investigation due to concern that Chen's death is a reflection of a larger problem of military hazing.
Full story…
Tags: bullying, Danny Chen, Defense Department, hazing, Kirsten Gillibrand, military, Senate
Posted in Asian American, Hate crime, Politics | Comments Off
Saturday, December 24th, 2011
(Kansas City Star) The Army filed charges Wednesday against eight Alaska-based soldiers in the death of a 19-year-old Army private, in a sign that the military is investigating whether racial harassment could have led him to commit suicide.
Pvt. Danny Chen's body was found in a guard tower in Afghanistan's Kandahar province in October, two months into his deployment. The New York native died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, but Chen's family and the Chinese-American community pressed the military to explain what led Chen to kill himself. The New York Times later reported that investigators had told Chen's family that superiors had abused him and taunted him with ethnic slurs.
"There was some serious misconduct in this situation," said Jacinta Ma, the deputy director of the Asian American Justice Center, who was part of a group of Asian-American organizations that met with Pentagon officials this month on behalf of Chen's family to discuss their concerns that Chen's case is not an isolated incident.
Full story…
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/21/3332099/8-soldiers-charged-in-privates.html#storylin
The Army filed charges Wednesday against eight Alaska-based soldiers in the death of a 19-year-old Army private, in a sign that the military is investigating whether racial harassment could have led him to commit suicide. Pvt. Danny Chen's body was found in a guard tower in Afghanistan's Kandahar province in October, two months into his deployment. The New York native died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, but Chen's family and the Chinese-American community pressed the military to explain what led Chen to kill himself. The New York Times later reported that investigators had told Chen's family that superiors had abused him and taunted him with ethnic slurs. "There was some serious misconduct in this situation," said Jacinta Ma, the deputy director of the Asian American Justice Center, who was part of a group of Asian-American organizations that met with Pentagon officials this month on behalf of Chen's family to discuss their concerns that Chen's case is not an isolated incident.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/21/3332099/8-soldiers-charged-in-privates.html#storylink=cpy
Tags: Afghanistan, Army, Danny Chen, hazing, Jacinta Ma, Kandahar, military, racial harassment, suicide
Posted in Asian American, Civil Rights, Hate crime, Workplace | Comments Off
Friday, November 4th, 2011
(Washington Post) When Al Flowers was born, his grandmother brought him home in a shoe box and sat all night by the wood stove to keep him warm.
When he was 10, he went to the tobacco fields with the adults, “cropping” leaves by hand and dumping them in a cart drawn by two gray mules.
He lived in a tin roof house with no running water and bathed in a No. 10 washtub.
Coming of age, he thought: There must be something more.
There was.
This month, Maj. Gen. Alfred K. Flowers, 63, retires from the U.S. Air Force as the military’s longest-serving active-duty general.
He is also the longest-tenured active-duty service member in the Air Force, and the longest-serving active-duty African American in the six-decade history of the Defense Department.
Full story…
Tags: Air Force, Al Flowers, Defense Department, General, military
Posted in African American, Diversity, Glass ceiling, Workplace | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
(Reuters) Racial slurs and a noose strung up outside his barracks were among the alleged harassment an African American war veteran said he was subjected to while serving in Afghanistan, according to a complaint filed this week.
Specialist Adam Jarrell, the only African American in a unit of 216 soldiers of the New Mexico Army National Guard, told Reuters on Tuesday that his complaints to superiors were not only ignored, but resulted in increased harassment.
“It’s dangerous when the only people you can count on are the people hanging nooses outside your room, telling you they hate you because you’re black,” said Jarrell, 23, a Sheriff’s deputy in Hobbs, New Mexico, who has been with the National Guard since 2006. He arrived home in New Mexico a year ago.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed the racial discrimination complaint with the federal Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice asking for an investigation.
Full story…
Tags: ACLU, Adam Jarrell, Afghanistan, Army, defense, military, National Guard, New Mexico
Posted in African American, Hate crime, Politics | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
(AOL Latino) Recent U.S. Census data confirms a fact of life for San Diego: Hispanics, once considered a “minority,” now number nearly 30 percent of the population — a “major minority.” Those numbers are growing. As the second-largest city in California, San Diego has seen a 32 percent increase in the numbers of Hispanics since 2000.
The U.S. military today reflects these demographics, especially in San Diego, home to the largest naval fleet on the West Coast. The Pew Hispanic Center reported that the Hispanic military population of more than 122,000 now represents 11 percent of the entire U.S. military.
Hispanic Americans have a proud legacy of U.S. military service, dating to the American Revolution when Gen. Bernardo de Gálvez defeated British forces in Alabama and Florida to ensure safe passage for Gen. George Washington. That legacy of service continues. The highest U.S. military decoration, the Medal of Honor, has been awarded to 43 soldiers of Hispanic heritage, including Capt. Humbert Roque Versace, who was posthumously bestowed this honor in 2002 for his courage during the Vietnam War.
Full story…
Tags: census, DOD, military, Pew Hispanic Center
Posted in Diversity, Hispanic American, Politics | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
(AP) The U.S. military is too white and too male at the top and needs to change recruiting and promotion policies and lift its ban on women in combat, an independent report for Congress said Monday.
Seventy-seven percent of senior officers in the active-duty military are white, while only 8 percent are black, 5 percent are Hispanic and 16 percent are women, the report by an independent panel said, quoting data from September 2008.
One barrier that keeps women from the highest ranks is their inability to serve in combat units. Promotion and job opportunities have favored those with battlefield leadership credentials.
The report ordered by Congress in 2009 calls for greater diversity in the military’s leadership so it will better reflect the racial, ethnic and gender mix in the armed forces and in American society.
Efforts over the years to develop a more equal opportunity military have increased the number of women and racial and ethnic minorities in the ranks of leadership. But, the report said, “despite undeniable successes … the armed forces have not yet succeeded in developing a continuing stream of leaders who are as diverse as the nation they serve.”
Full story…
Tags: Air Force, combat, Lester Lyles, military, Military Leadership Diversity
Posted in Affirmative action, African American, Asian American, Diversity, Glass ceiling, Hispanic American, Politics, Workplace | Comments Off
Monday, June 21st, 2010
(NPR) In the U.S. Army, Asian-Americans have typically volunteered at the lowest rate of any ethnic group. They make up 4 percent of the population, and only 1 percent of military recruits.
But that seems to be changing. Something is suddenly drawing Asian-Americans in California into the Army at a remarkable rate. And there have been similar increases in other Asian-American population centers, like Seattle and New York.
In Los Angeles County last year, 22 percent of Army recruits were Asian-Americans — almost twice their proportion in the population. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the sign-up rate is also spiking. The proportion of newly enlisted soldiers who are Asian-Americans this year is nearly double that of last year.
Full story…
Tags: Army, military, recruiting
Posted in Affirmative action, Asian American, Workplace | Comments Off
