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Rabat – There is an ever-pervasive culture of “deep-rooted racism and discrimination” in the US military, divulges The Associated Press (AP) in its latest report.
The AP, an American non-profit news agency, interviewed a number of present and former US military members on their personal experiences with racism and discrimination while in service. The report found that most minorities in the military have experienced, at the minimum, an atmosphere of discrimination, or even, what some military members described as “a deep-rooted culture of racism.”
“For Blacks and minorities, when we initially experience racism or discrimination in the military, we feel blindsided,” explained Stephanie Davis, a Black woman serving as a lieutenant colonel. “We’re taught to believe that it’s the one place where everybody has a level playing field and that we can make it to the top with work that’s based on merit,” she added.
Despite such preconceptions, Davis told AP that white subordinates would often refuse to salute her, throw racial slurs against her, and even assigned her the call sign of ABW or “Angry Black Woman.”
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Such attitudes are deeply troubling, more so when, as the AP has found, the military’s complex judicial system does not have a specific category for defining hate crimes.
The makeup of the US military, in terms of commissioned officers, is 73% white, 8% Black, 8% Hispanic, 6% Asian, 4% multiracial. Other minorities, such as Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, make up less than 1% of the military.
It is not only the so-called “casual” racism that has found a safe environment in the military but also large swathes of white supremacist ideology with roots for what could eventually flourish into domestic terrorism.
“Those who are indoctrinated into white supremacist ideology present a significant threat to national security and the safety of our communities,” said the SPLC President, Margaret Huang.
US House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn told the AP about a cell of white supremacists discovered at Fort Bragg — an army base named after a segregationist leader — several years ago, wondering if it was an attitude that came from outside, or if it was something to do with the base itself.
“It creates a harmful and dangerous work environment… And a lot of us suffer in silence because we feel like there’s nothing that can be done,” recalled Davis.
