Black People in the Military: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. (Ret)
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

I’m a confirmed Peace Advocate, and I’ve been that all of my adult life; yet I respect all who give their lives for the benefit of all Americans. My heart aches for families of three American young people killed and 40 others injured, in a faraway war where many of them joined to fight for their country’s democracy. Others may have joined because the military had been the only way they could pay for college expenses. When the three young Black people were killed in the Middle East the other day, my thoughts were to wonder how much of America they had been blessed to enjoy before they died. I wondered how many racial slurs they’d been called in their hometowns. Who worked against their DEI? We may never know; yet they died in the service of what often is an ungrateful nation that’s not always been kind to them or their families.

Sure, three were brought back home in dignity, but my thoughts immediately went to the kind of short lives they experienced before they voluntarily went off to fight for their country. I was also curious about the 40 who were injured in that same tragedy near the Syrian border. I’ve been there and I know the place.

They were from Georgia, and they were in a far-away land to work for the defeat of an enemy who never personally harmed them or who they never knew. We need to at least know their names and honor them for whatever reason they went to the Middle East and despite whatever challenges they’d had before leaving and going away.

They were Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett of Savannah, Georgia; Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Georgia and Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders of Waycross, Georgia. I mentioned their names because the next time you’re in Georgia, I want you to take note of how you’re treated when you’re in their towns in the state of Richard Russell. That will give you some indication of how they were treated in those towns; yet, they went off to war to save those haters in those towns, too. I would say to those of all races in those towns, if you could do just one thing to make you a better person in remembrance of them and their sacrifice for you, think about what that would be and JUST DO IT! I would especially call on their Members of Congress to take the lead in righting wrongs because, Lord knows, too many current so-called leaders of Georgia, have and still vote against the interests of families from which these young men and women have come to fight for the rights of all of their constituents to remain free in a democracy. I especially pray that people like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene will read my message and take heed.

To the rest of the guilty parties in the state, don’t forget to vote right to make Georgia a better state for all of Georgia’s citizens. Stop the racism! Vote in remembrance of Breonna, William, Kennedy and the sacrifices of all who died or were injured.

Dr. E. Faye Williams, President of The Dick Gregory Society.

This article originally published in the February 12, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.