America's strained salute to its black military veterans

At the end of 2018, US Air Force veteran Janice Jamison was outside the town hall in Augusta before Stacey Abrams, then running for Georgia Governor, arrived to talk at an event for a local veterans group for women.

Suddenly Jamison found herself confronted by five white men who began protesting that Abrams didn't understand veterans.

Jamison, who works for the organisation whose members are predominantly African American, tried to reason with the men but found herself being harangued by one man on the subject of veterans' needs.

"I said to him, 'Well, sir, for you to tell me what I need as a veteran, have you ever been in uniform?"

The man - who she later discovered to be a white nationalist - admitted he had not, and appeared visibly embarrassed, she tells the BBC.

Such encounters have some concerned that the current politically and racially charged climate is exacerbating existing problems about how black Americans are treated both in the military and as veterans.