Yonkers Insider: Oped by Helena Edwards.

 

President Biden, The Checks For Black Former Service Members Are Overdue

By Helena Edwards

In cities throughout America, there are homeless Black men scattered all over like paper from a ticker tape parade. These men are America’s shame because America owes them a debt that it refuses to pay. Many of these men struggle with mental illnesses that began in the military, but they never receive monetary compensation nor health care benefits. Why? They were given an everlasting scarlet letter in the form of an other than honorable discharge due to their skin color.

America’s politicians like to pretend that they are ignorant to the fact that racism was (still is in many cases) rampant in the military. Yet, some talk glowingly about President Roosevelt’s influence in establishing the Tuskegee Airmen. Before, President Roosevelt’s Public Law 18, Black soldiers were confined to the menial jobs in the military. There were no Black officers. Scientific racism which was created in the Louis Agassiz’ laboratory at Harvard University, and became the great authority in government policies, states that Blacks are inferior due to low Intelligence Quotient, and uncivilized behavior. Thus, the former service members were not fit to be anything other than providers of manual labor in the military.

This argument for “inability” is the essence of racism, and American leaders love to feign dementia. They want us to believe that racism never existed in America, and if it did, it surely doesn’t exist now. However, we see tangible results of racism all throughout America every single day, especially in the Black communities. But, the greatest Senator in New York State, Chuck Schumer, and his junior cohort, Kirsten Gillibrand, are blind to this, especially, when they visit Mount Vernon to sure-up their votes in elections. In their minds, the tons of Black men that line the streets in Mount Vernon are there simply because they are “shiftless and lazy.” They don’t believe racism is the nexus to these men becoming society’s outcasts.

Many of these homeless Black men on the streets who engage in a life of crime to survive are former service members. They served America by performing the “dirty jobs” in the military. They were continuously subjected to racism in the forms of psychological, emotional, and physical abuse. My mother-in-law told me that some of the Black soldiers who came back from France after World War II said, the French soldiers were treating them like humans until White American soldiers told these French soldiers the Black soldiers had tails like monkeys. For those of you that are still in denial, this is an example of racism. It is essentially the dehumanization of Black people.

As if these tortures that these Black soldiers endured in the military were not enough, the White racists in the military ensured that these Black soldiers would never reap the benefits of their military service by issuing them dishonorable discharges. With these dishonorable discharges, these Black men are literally left out in the cold. They don’t qualify for VA home loans, which built the white middle class. They don’t qualify for the GI Bill education benefits, which created the white educated class. They don’t qualify for treatment for any disabilities incurred in service, unless the discharge can be categorized under 38 CFR 3.12(d), and they certainly don’t qualify for VA disability compensation benefits. Those former service members who were issued straight out “bad discharges,” are totally barred from everything. American employers don’t look kindly on individuals with dishonorable discharges, so these Black men’s choices are limited to the streets or prison.

President Joe Biden in his hopes to run another game on Black Americans whose votes he needs to prevent a Democratic Party midterm massacre is offering Black people a Supreme Court position - another great Trojan horse. The sad thing is that many Black people still fall for this trick even after the era of Obama. No other group in America is so naive whereby they are continuously tricked by the people who desire to keep them in eternal poverty. President Biden on September 20, 2021, signed an Executive Order to circumvent 38 CFR 3.12(d)(5), which authorizes a dishonorable discharge based on Homosexuality. This Executive Order enables VA to reconsider dishonorable discharges issued to homosexuals in making them eligible for VA benefits. The LGBTQ community can now take advantage of health care benefits such as sex change surgeries, and treatment for other homosexual related conditions. They can now qualify for VA home loan guarantee program, VA disability compensation benefits as well as the GI Bill education benefits. I applaud President Biden for righting past wrongs within the LGBTQ community, but I must audaciously ask, what about those Black former service members that received dishonorable discharges due to racism? When will they be treated the same?

It seems like President Biden’s plan for the homeless Black former service members is to have Black mercenaries like New York City Mayor Eric Adams unleash the entire NYC police force on them. They are deemed criminals not veterans because they have other than honorable discharges. They are not deemed to be in need of mental health, because the cost to taxpayers would be much greater than the cost of just rounding them up and throwing their behinds in prisons. Neither Eric Adams nor President Biden would treat any individual from the LGBTQ community that way. The LGBTQ community values loyalty. They don’t have LGBTQ mercenaries who work against their community. The Black community, on the other hand, is overloaded with mercenaries from the African Chiefs who sold the people into slavery to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who ensures that Black people are kept in slavery in the penitentiaries. The Black community also has a bad habit of rewarding traitors. Thus, there is a continuum of traitors - mercenaries who betray the Black community.

It’s time for Black people to show the Social Scientists at Harvard University that their intelligence quotients have been elevated to triple digits. They must reject Joe Biden’s Supreme Court Trojan horse, and tell him, if his party wants to remain in office, he has to cut the check for compensation due to racial discrimination. Short of Joe Biden doing this, Black people must stay away from the polling stations and refuse to vote. It’s time that the Black community values dignity. No one is going to respect you until you respect yourselves. It is time to stop rewarding traitors and making excuses for them. It’s time that you say to Joe Biden, “No compensation for racial discrimination, no vote! #CutTheCheck