Question:
Marine Corps Commandant James T. Conway has asked a question the Big Media refuses to ask, namely: Will open homosexuality within the ranks enhance combat readiness? “My personal opinion is that unless we can strip away the emotion, the agendas, and the politics and ask [whether] … we somehow enhance the war fighting capabilities of the United States Marine Corps by allowing homosexuals to openly serve, [then] we haven’t addressed [this issue] from the correct perspective. And, at this point, I think that the current policy works. My best military advice to this committee, to the secretary, and to the president would be to keep the law such as it is.” General Conway’s moderate and commonsense message was echoed, albeit in more muted form, by Army Chief of Staff General George W. Casey Jr. and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton A. Schwartz. GENERAL CASEY: I do have serious concerns about the impact of repeal of the law on a force that’s fully engaged in two wars and has been at war for eight-and-a-half years. We just don’t know the impacts on readiness and military effectiveness. GENERAL SCHWARTZ: [My] strong conviction [is that] this is not the time to perturb the force, [which] is, at the moment, stretched by demands in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere without careful deliberation.

Answer:
Our country has gone through this before; when President Truman wanted to end military racial segregation in 1948, the same argument about “decreased combat readiness” was used against Black people. President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 and two commissions formed: one by Charles Fahy, which recommended the end of segregation and quotas, and the other, formed by the Army, was headed by Lt. General Chamberlin. The Chamberlin Board recommended retention of segregation and quotas.

The Korean War then made integration a necessity—there weren’t enough white soldiers to fill combat slots. As is the case today, when bullets start flying, pragmatism takes over. Integration of some combat units happened and the Chamberlin Board was asked to reconvene a year later. Although it had to concede that integrated units performed just as well as all-white units, it still recommended segregation and quotas. It’s eerily similar to today’s experience; because of  staffing and specialty shortages, since our current two wars started, there has been a dramatic fall in service people separated under DADT (the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy), a fact that bluntly contradicts any prediction of “decreased combat readiness.” The military has already shown us that out and gay can work just fine.

It’s sad to note that the history of oppressing Black service people and LGBT service people has striking parallels—the military in 1951 and 2010  conducted surveys to assess attitudes, hired consulting groups to produce studies (the Research Analysis Corporation in 1951, RAND in 2010—ironically, neither group had discernible excellence in accomplishment in what they were studying). The results of all of these surveys, meetings and reports were remarkably similar. Bigotry was trumped by performance. Familiarity demolished objectification. Integration, handled well, INCREASED combat effectiveness.

Go figure. Treat people like human beings, respect their rights, and they’ll fight better for you. Do you really need RAND to tell you this?

I appreciate the general officer’s opinions that you quoted, and you can counter the opinions you quoted with the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who while testifying to Congress said, “I have served with homosexuals since 1968″ (when he joined the service). He also said, “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

We don’t have to line up and contrast senior officers’ opinions, however. It is important to note that we have a very special system in our country: the military is run by the civilian government. The president appoints service secretaries to run the military and the admirals and generals all report to civilians. Our country has a long history of tragedy when we parse rights. The time for action is now—and the president needs to sign another executive order.

In closing, I’ll say that as a fellow naval aviator, I’ve gone from admiring Sen. John McCain to being ashamed of him. He is the Lt. General Chamberlin of our day—a bulwark for bigotry.

The post ATWG: Why I’m Ashamed of Sen. McCain appeared first on DiversityInc.

The White Guy responds to a reader’s question of whether Sen. Barack Obama is facing opposition simply because he is a Black man.

Question:
If Obama were a white man with the same ideas for economics, healthcare, the wars, energy AND the message of unity going against McCain, do you think this campaign would be such a big deal? I personally think that for those who so strongly oppose him, it merely comes down to the fact that he’s a Black man. They hide behind the “issues” but when it all comes down to it, I think that many who so strongly oppose him do so solely based on the color of his skin. What do you think? Keep up the good work.

Answer:
Thank you.
 
Every poll I’ve seen shows that there is a certain segment of the American population that will not vote for Senator Obama simply because he’s Black. What seems to have changed, however, is that those people don’t hide their feelings anymore.
 
According to the Pew Research Center, the so-called Wilder effect, where white people say one thing to pollsters and do another in the voting booth, seems to have gone away.

However, I think there’s another very important point: I’m not sure Senator Obama would have made it this far if he weren’t Black. It’s my observation that the everyday racism that hurts the majority of oppressed people by destroying ego, self-esteem and by putting one too many unfair race-based obstacles in a career path, galvanizes a small percentage of especially strong people.
 
To head off the usual “I had obstacles too” e-mails from white people, let me add that the injustice of racism (or sexism, or discrimination against people with visible disabilities, etc.) is in ADDITION to the regular obstacles that we all face. Not only is it additional, but it is focused on a facet of being that is out of our control–we are born the way we are (or may become that way in the case of a disability). That feeling of out-of-your-control, yet personally directed injustice cannot be fully understood by majority men who are heterosexual and have no ADA-defined disabilities.
 
Would Senator Obama have risen to go to Columbia and Harvard Law School–where he eventually became the president of the Harvard Law Review–if he were not strengthened by living every day in the crucible of being a Black man in America? Would he have had the empathy to work as a civil-rights lawyer and community organizer? Would he have had the gumption to successfully run for the state Senate twice and then the United States Senate? Could he have run a campaign that defied all media predictions, raised unprecedented money from an unprecedented number of people and derailed the anointed party candidate with the strongest brand name in politics?
 
I don’t think so.
 
If Barack Obama had been born a white man in a comfortable, middle-class household, I think he’d be successful, but I don’t think it’s likely we’d know who he is.
 
I will add that the same goes for Sen. McCain. Yes, he had the advantage of having a father and grandfather who were admirals who had influence in his acceptance into the Naval Academy. But plenty of people go to the Naval Academy–and there were over 1,000 POWs in Vietnam. Why did he resist his captor’s torture with such integrity? Why did he continue his career in the Navy after he was released? Why did he run for Senate? Why was his response to the debate question about torture so unequivocal and firm? Why do we know so much about this one senator out of 100? Sen. McCain has grit, character, intelligence and almost superhuman perseverance. There are no polls that indicate his support is in any significant way due to anti-Black sentiments–and I don’t think it would be fair to imply so.
 
There are significant differences in the philosophies of both candidates.

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