Posted on Jun 25, 2015
Have you ever experienced racism in the Military?
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As a leader, could you recognize potential acts racism amongst Soldiers in your unit and if so, how would you handle it?
Racism
Unity
Leadership
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 18
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Yes I have. I'm married to a black woman, and a black Sailor found out and started raising holy hell. I handled it informally and basically told him that if he didn't curtail his mouth he'd find himself in front of the Captain before he could blink.
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SN Earl Robinson
Yes I did. I spent 20 days in the brig for blacking the eye of a 1st class PO for calling me a N*****!
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PO1 (Join to see)
My wife is part black Puerto-Rican. Strange when I show pictures of us together or people see us out in town, they start acting differently for some reason. What's YOUR take on that?
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After 24 yrs I've experienced some. When I was Command Chief on a ship, I was talking to a junior guy about hygiene, privately I may ad and very respectful, later on in the smoking area with his peers, he told them, "I hate that black effing n word". Now all the witnesses were white. They had intagrity, needless to say he went to Captains Mast/NJP, publicly. I had no anger towards him, he was just ignorant, so I took him under my wing and educated him. Taught him that most of us were good people and he should know that. He became a decent sailor. I remember, the guys had a discussion about soul food, he didn't think there was such a thing, so he come to ask me. That's what I wanted him to do, if he had any questions about anything, come and ask, we'll talk about it, and he'll find out the truth. I thought him that we are different, but we're the same. See, according to him, first time he ever seen people of different races was in boot camp, imagine that? He thought it was ok, because that's what he saw on TV. We learned a lot about each other over 3 yrs. That was a positive story. I have some not so positive as well, I prefer this one.
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CW4 (Join to see)
Thank you sharing. You could have handled that situation very differently and I am glad that you took the high road and made it a point to mentor that you sailor. More often than not, that will not be the case. I remember the looks on some of my basic training platoon mates when they finally realized that the Army was a huge melting pot of races and ethnic backgrounds. You could tell right away who hadn’t any significant contact or experiences with anyone of the opposite race throughout their lives prior to basic training. Luckily for me I grew up an Army brat and I lived all over the world and experienced different cultures and developed my sense of caring and understanding to all races no matter what. I am glad that I grew up that way.
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