Honoring Ourselves, As We Honor Our Veterans
Fighting racism is one of the many battles our Veterans have fought and died for
By
Frankie Firme ~ Contributing Editor
Published on LatinoLA:
November 9, 2009
As everyone knows by now, there was a terrible shooting at a U.S. Army base in Texas recently.
The shooter, although an American and an Officer, is being overly identified in the media as a "Muslim".
If he was white, Black, Latino, or Asian , would it have made a difference ? It was still a man , an American soldier, who has been dealing with three wars in the Middle East during his service to the United States…and he snapped.
…and because he is Muslim, has probably been the undeserved target of racial taunts, discrimination, and blame during these wars…nobody knows for sure, but I remind you all of the Columbine tragedy, where victims of bullies and discrimination lashed out and killed innocent children…and they were white.
When Timothy McVey blew up a federal building and killed hundreds of innocent people, saying he learned to hate & kill in the Army during the Desert Storm War in Iraq-Kuwait , it wasn't open season on white soldiers in the Army. 88% of all top commanders in all branches of the military are still white men.
When Jeffery Dahmer was arrested for being a cannibal & eating people he kidnapped & killed, white people were NOT discriminated against at Sizzler's or any other steakhouse. They don't get resentful looks when they order "rare", do they ?
When Michael Keating and Barry Madoff swindled Americans for BILLIONS…it didn't stop white men from working, and practically owning the American financial industry….they STILL do !
I served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Viet Nam era, and over 20,000 Chicanos were killed in the Viet Nam war, and a thriving Vietnamese immigrant community now exists in Orange County, and nobody has ever bombed them, or prevented them from becoming richer than me and a lot of other Americans. Many of their children now serve in the United States Armed forces, and American police and fire departments across the Country, protecting and saving American lives.
I served in the Army National Guard during the 1992 L.A. Riots, and the men I served with were Latinos,Blacks, Asians, and Whites from Los Angeles who had to draw down loaded weapons on our own people in Los Angeles, to keep control…but that didn't stop us from honorably serving & keeping the peace. Racism didn't play a part here. We were ALL Americans…
In both branches of the U.S. military I served in, during 2 different generations, I served with men & women of different races, and some from different Countries…and ALL are U.S. Military Veterans today that share a common bond many will never know or appreciate.
My point is, is that there appears to be a growing media feeding frenzy on the fact that the shooter was a Muslim, and there are thousands of Muslim-Americans honorably serving in our military, police and fire departments…should we all start suspecting them of being terrorists? I should think and hope not!
As tragic as it is, we must, as a people, take caution how we respond and describe this tragedy at Ft Hood, Texas, in 2009. This was the action of one man, and not a group, and the whole World is watching.
At this time of the year, with Veteran's Day and the holidays coming up, with a lot of our young men & women still serving in combat zones around the world…can we, as a Country, afford to regress to a racist mentality, not trusting people in our own neighborhoods, and discriminating against others as adults, and encouraging this mentality into the finest military in the World?
They're not our there for reasons of hate or discrimination...
We lost our biggest number of honorable Veterans fighting each other during the Civil War, a war to end slavery of Black people in America ~ the most vile example of racism imaginable ~ and we should never forget that !
And we cannot ever forget our Country's shameful treatment of Japanese Americans during the outbreak WW II. Another example of racist mentality gone berserk .
The experiences of Native Americans after the coming of the white man to America is a racial nightmare.
Latinos in the U.S. military history have the highest number of Medals of Honor, the highest ranking medal for combat bravery in our Country, in all our wars since 1775, so we have proved our loyalty beyond a shadow of a doubt…..yet we still suffer from racism in our own backyard.
Racism has a domino effect, we're already suffering with a stigma and poor treatment of illegal aliens, 80% which are Latinos, and if we allow and encourage racism & discrimination in our military , we weaken our military, and we weaken the moral fabric of our society, which has become the strongest in the world because of the inclusion and contributions of immigrants… and it will just be a matter of time before other non-white people begin being mistrusted, suspected, and discriminated against, in the name of national security and the Red, White, and Blue...and more people will suffer...
I'm one of those non-whites. My family and I suffered discrimination before the Civil Rights movement & Chicano Movimiento of the1960's made things right (almost), and I don't wish my children & grand children to experience the same…never asked for payback, just a little respect.
…what we teach our children today, will reflect on our society tomorrow….let's handle this one right…please!
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About
Frankie Firme ~ Contributing Editor :
Frankie Firme is a proud U.S. Veteran, author, radio personality, and mental health professional originally from East L.A. and now living in Sylmar.
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