As the nation watches the social unrest unfold through recent clashes between protestors, rioters and police, two members of the American Legion Department of California joined Wednesday’s Tango Alpha Lima podcast to discuss race, gender and policing in America.
Early into the program, podcast co-host and California Legionnaire Jeff Daly, a Marine Corps veteran, highlighted the disparity between disciplinary procedures for police officers and those of active duty military personnel, claiming that the military takes more action in many cases against claims of discrimination.
California’s Autrey James, a Coast Guard veteran, disagreed.
“The things that people were complaining about in policing are things that my parents were complaining about in policing — the way that they were being treated when nobody was looking, when the lights weren’t on, this is how people got treated,” James said. “The same thing happens in the military. … If anyone thinks that there was not racism in the military or that people mistreated people without consequences in the military, that’s just not true. What we’re seeing now, for instance, in the case of sexual assault — how many women for how long were victimized and had no place to go, no one to talk to, and no one — even when they reported it — would do anything about it?”
There’s prejudice everywhere, argued former National Executive Committeeman for California Hugh Crooks, an Army veteran.
“What do you do when you have a female who’s gone out, gone to combat, been shot at just like you have, she’s going through PTSD,” said Crooks. “So now what happens when she has to go to therapy and she’s been sexually abused by her NCOIC and she can’t say anything because she’s going to be ostracized by her entire unit? That can happen in the military and that can happen in the police force.”
Read more on Legion.org
The first of the two-part series is available now for downloading and listening, or watching on YouTube. Part two will be posted at legion.org/tangoalphalima on Thursday, July 2. On that page, you can also learn more about the podcast, meet the co-hosts and find links to all previous episodes in both audio and video formats.
Author: Jared Morgan
Jared is the senior editor and web team lead for the Department of California and chair of its Media & Communications Commission. He became a member of the American Legion in 2014 when he joined Palisades Post 283 to find stories about veterans issues for a local newspaper while working as its news editor. He was soon brought in as 283's assistant adjutant and historian to help produce the post's award-winning community newspaper. Since then, Jared has used his media skills to help further the efforts of The American Legion in its advocacy of veterans and their families. Jared has also worked for several years to help revitalize the 100-year-old Santa Monica Post 123, formerly as its adjutant and as a member of its executive board, before transferring back to Post 283.