You look at the George Floyd thing, people never saw this before, because they — everybody didn't have videos. Now we have video. Now people can see things that are happening. That's why you're getting more protesters, because now they feel the effects of it. And I think that the military is a great organization.
The Army is great. I enjoyed my time in it. But I think that more could be done. And those military leaders who are in charge right now do say and admit that more needs to be done, and they say that they are going to do more in the future. Support Provided By: Learn more. Thursday, Nov The Latest. World Agents for Change. Health Long-Term Care. For Teachers. NewsHour Shop. About Feedback Funders Support Jobs.
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Nick Schifrin has the story. Woman: The nomination of Charles Q. Nick Schifrin: For the first time in the republic's year history, the Senate confirmed a black officer, General Charles Brown, as a military service chief.
Charles Q. Brown: And thinking about a history of racial issues and my own experiences that didn't always sing of liberty and equality. Nick Schifrin: Last week, Brown posted an emotional video about what he was thinking about: racism in the military. Brown: I'm thinking about the pressure I felt to perform error-free, especially for supervisors I perceived had expected less from me as an African-American.
Protesters: Black lives matter! Nick Schifrin: In this moment of national disquiet, the military is a crucible of race relations. Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth Wright: Really, you have to — I think, more than talk about it, you got to be willing to listen. David Goldfein: We probably don't completely understand it, because you and I have had different life experiences growing up.
Kaleth Wright: The fear I have when I'm driving down with this the Beltway or any street and I see blue lights, because I think it doesn't matter if I'm the chief or whomever. Nick Schifrin: And to talk about race in the U. Gentleman, thank you very much. Welcome to the "NewsHour. What's the significance of General Brown becoming the first black service chief today?
Dana Pittard: Well, thank you, Nick. Nick Schifrin: Brigadier General Butler, the percentage of officers who are black decreases with seniority. Remo Butler: Not very much. Nick Schifrin: Major General Pittard, I wonder if you could comment on that, about the not only implicit racism that military leaders right now are admitting to, but also the explicit racism perhaps that you experienced as well.
The story is only slightly better an echelon below brigade. At the battalion level, where lieutenant colonels are in charge of about soldiers, there are 13 Black commanders out of combat units, or 5. The Army is addressing the problem with an array of initiatives. Among them: removing photos of officers from personnel files so promotion boards are less aware of race. Another sign of progress: More young minority officers are choosing combat assignments.
The military's reckoning with racial inequality coincides with national unrest that erupted after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man in police custody, prompting military leaders to acknowledge racial inequality in the ranks. Jackie Speier, D-Calif. Congress has a duty to ensure military leadership understand and heed that fact. There are no quick fixes. It can take 20 years or more to train a colonel to lead a brigade, about 15 years to groom a lieutenant colonel for battalion command.
Along the way, these officers typically have led smaller units at the platoon and company level, acquiring specialized leadership and tactical skills for leading forces into battle.
What we're seeing today is a product of what happened 20 years ago. Being a combat pilot and leading them are near-prerequisites to senior command.
The Marines have the least diversity in their top ranks. Not a single Black Marine has made it to the top four-star rank; six African Americans reached lieutenant general three stars ; fewer than 20 have received one or two stars, The New York Times reported. Out of 60 Marine generals, five brigadier generals and one major general are Black. One result of the paucity of minority officers at lower ranks is the lack of diversity at the very summit of the military.
A select few ascend to the top of the pyramid. In May , there were 19 Black one-star generals in the Army, 15 two-stars, eight three-stars and one four-star, according to Defense Department data.
Compare that with white Army generals: one-stars, 90 two-stars, 37 three-stars and 11 four-stars. Garrett is a career infantry officer. At the very top sit the chairman and vice chairman, the top two officers in the military.
In August, the first Black general to lead one of the services, Gen. Charles Brown, an F pilot, was sworn in as Air Force chief of staff. Army Gen. Colin Powell, the first and only Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the leap to the top without having served as chief of staff of the Army. He was an infantry officer. Less than a week later, when Kaleth Wright, the second Black man to hold the position of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, addressed the world the pain and frustration in his words were palpable.
His call for justice was the furthest thing from removed and formal, and rather, Wright posted his words through Twitter, making his message accessible and relatable to any Soldier.
Less than two days later, then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper released a statement and held a press conference addressing the national unrest. Other senior leaders followed suit. Across all branches, their response signified the value all service members were raised on: the best leaders lead from the front. Ranging from removing discriminatory aptitude test barriers to establishing a diversity Center of Excellence, all of the upcoming initiatives have the promise to address the need for measurable criteria and qualified individuals to tackle the issue.
Notably, several of the recommendations have a deadline of 31 March Reinforcing the upcoming recommendations, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin mandated an Army-wide stand down day against extremism to occur in March of and created a new position to have an advisor on human capital, diversity, equity, and inclusion. That being so, the Army is clearly making decisions that are headed toward a stronger, racially aware workforce, but it will be years before Soldiers and officers feel the impact of the upcoming initiatives.
In the meantime, our organization must foster the talent that it currently has. Before we can even confront the issue of talent management, however, we must first retain the current generation of junior Black officers. Within his article, COL R Smith especially emphasizes that junior Black officers need mentorship from senior Black officers, a point that holds merit.
Not only can a Black senior leader best explain how to navigate the Army, but they also have the potential to better communicate empathetically with their junior counterpart. Still, senior leaders of all backgrounds need to be held accountable for how they mentor Black officers. Unfortunately, this popular mindset makes too many assumptions. First, it assumes that every black officer is interested in prioritizing diversity, the subject the current generation of senior leaders of all backgrounds were raised as leaders to give little importance.
Second, it implies that every black officer is equipped with the right knowledge and resources to address racism, a thinking trap that often leads to minority officers being tasked as the spokesperson for their race during diversity luncheons, commemorative observances, and whenever an equality opportunity issue is presented within a unit. Lastly, a Black officer should not be limited to branching combat arms in order to exact change, and rather, there should be far more opportunities to assist in racial progress.
The better solution, then, is to ensure that ANY officer that will hold a senior leadership position has been trained to promote and prioritize anti-racist ideologies. As COL R Smith argues, black officers must be held accountable and asked by their senior leadership what they have done to solve the problem pp.
Their white counterparts, however, should be asked the same. If the Army is to move forward, we must do so in unison, holding everyone equally accountable for this problem we have finally agreed to acknowledge. We cannot allow the sacrifices made in to have no follow-up.
No, our only option is to take advantage of the momentum we gained in , confronting racism deliberately and with a genuine conviction to end it. As author Nesrine Malik outlines, diversity has two paths. Its first route is as a means to address structural inequalities that produce the marginalization of those groups in the first place. The second is as an end in itself with no further movement past the appearance of a diverse environment
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