![]() ![]() However, like other minorities, I have experienced racial bias from others in the military sometimes, I believe, because it’s not common for them to see African Americans in senior leadership positions.įirst black military service chief describes racism he's faced Serving for 38 years, I came to love the Army, which I see as an incredibly positive force. ![]() Yet despite its strong efforts even our military still confronts the stubborn racism that accompanies and dogs some of its young recruits, further weighing down our nation and putting it at risk. The military has been a beacon of hope for many minorities where service members receive a fair shot based solely on their performance. My African American father served as an enlisted soldier in a segregated Army, and I had the opportunity to serve as an Army General Officer. Out of all the great American institutions, the military has served as a vast socio-cultural equalizer, a melting pot of cultures. Danny Chen is honored in a funeral procession on October 13, 2011, in New York's Chinatown. Seven were convicted through military courts martial and one was handled through an Article 15, which is a non-judicial punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.Īrmy Pvt. I recall Chen’s mother asking, “How could this happen in the US Army?” Quietly, I wondered the same.Įight soldiers were charged in connection with Chen’s death. As a parent myself of African American and Japanese American descent and father of an only child, I could not imagine the pain of this Chinese American mother and father. In his final act of desperation, Chen chambered a round, squeezed the trigger and put a bullet through his head.Īs the Director of Personnel for the Army, it was my sad and heavyhearted duty to meet with Danny Chen’s family afterward. Night after night, week after week, Chen experienced this terrible treatment. Members of Chen’s squad dragged him out into the open during the middle of the night, made him low-crawl over gravel as they threw rocks at him and screamed expletives. They referred to him as “dragon lady,” among other racial slurs, according to court documents. Military data reveals dangerous reality for black service members and veterans Once deployed, the tempo of engagement increased. The typical assimilation of soldiers from all cultures of America had not developed among those on the team to which Chen was assigned. Soon after Chen enlisted in the Army and completed basic training, the personal snipes started. Danny Chen lay dead at 19, not by the hand of an expected US combat foe, but by an enemy even more insidious – the ugly and irrational idea that one American is better than another based on the color of their skin. In January 2011, at 18 years old, while still in college and against his mother’s wishes, he enlisted in the Army as an infantryman.īy October 2011, at a forward operating base in Afghanistan, Pvt. ![]() Chen had high test scores and received a full scholarship to attend college. He wanted to join the Army, but he needed parental permission as a 17-year-old. He was the only child of first-generation Chinese Americans in New York City. ![]()
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