AP: Deep-rooted racism, discrimination permeate US military

6/10/2021

Deep-rooted racism, discrimination permeate US military

"The AP also found that the Uniform Code of Military Justice does not adequately address discriminatory incidents and that rank-and-file people of color commonly face courts-martial panels made up of all-white service members, which some experts argue can lead to harsher outcomes."

7 Comments

1984

6/10/2021 08:22:34 pm

A terrible article.

Their first example is a woman who rose to LtCl. and had a successful career. But got offended for being called ABW (Angry Black Woman) as a joke. Then provided anecdotal evidence of "racism" when someone forgot to call her by her "proper" rank (I'm betting "Doctor" was used). I am sure any officer can count dozens of times they were not called by their proper rank. Finally she complains about the lack of Black residents. I'm assuming two decades ago. Somehow, that's the military's problem a lack of black doctors want to join.

And here we go. The main thrust of the argument. No charges or enhanced punishments for "hate crimes". Nevermind the notion of adding "hate" to a crime of violence is redundant. Adding this to the UCMJ is unnecessary.

Finally, a story of a black airman ordered to shift through garbage. Apparently is racist because someone told a person-of-color to do something. What if it was a white airman? Was this just a coincidence? Was his name chosen at random? There's a follow-up that one of the supervisors that were present was called-out for saying "BLM" on a private FB group. Although I love hearing stories like these, and indeed it's par for the course, it does not tell us whether there was any true racisms.

What we have here is pure speculation.

Lone Bear

6/11/2021 12:06:30 am

Hate crimes are generally aggravators, because targeting someone for a group trait has a terrorizing effect on a group of people rather than just an individual. As a legal principle, it is a meaningful distinction for those who were impacted by a persons crime.

Also, I don’t think it’s at all suprising that a black female officer would suffer discrimination as she rose up the ranks. I found her story thoughtful and sincere.

Brenner M. Fissell

6/11/2021 12:27:59 am

Well said. There was a big debate about hate crimes in the 90s. Opponents said "we punish acts and mens rea, not motives," but this always seemed much too simplistic. Motive clearly bears on blameworthiness. Lone Bear points out that in the case of hate crimes the harmfulness is also greater due to the fear imposed on others. Nozick wrote that what differentiated a tort from a crime was that the latter created fear in the community.

1984

6/15/2021 01:26:27 am

Here's the problem.

A white man travels and kills 8 people, six happen to be Asian. Media runs with a racial motive, although none is readily apparent. You are just charging him with a hate crime because he is white and 3/4ths of his victims were Asian.

Conversely you have a case where black teenagers dump gasoline on a 13-year old white boy in Kansas City and light him on fire while saying racist things and are not charged with a hate crime.

So no. This legislation is arbitrary and capricious. It is absolute garbage because it does not rely on a set of elements which can clearly be distinguished.

This leads to selective enforcement.

Finally, I do not find any of their stories sincere, because they are so lacking in detail that rational minds could not form a conclusion if apparent or actual discrimination occurred.

Anon

6/15/2021 12:47:00 pm

OK, 1984, so presumably you support repeal of all terrorism offenses as well?

Lone Bear

6/10/2021 11:51:09 pm

Another example of untrained commanders being unable to fairly administer the military justice system. Hope change will come soon, and they don’t try to delay with “more study.”

1984

6/15/2021 12:36:38 pm

Let me explain how things in the military typically (and I mean most of the time) work.

Although the unit commander gets the ball rolling, typically he is advised by the JAG what to do, and that advice is followed 99% of the time.

I've seen worse miscarriage's of justice in the civilian world, i.e. Epstein.

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CAAFlog

AP: Deep-rooted racism, discrimination permeate US military

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