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IN DEFENSE OF VETERANS DAY

  Every Veterans Day, we honor those individuals who answered our Nation's call to defense.  Veterans Day, which began in commemoration of the World War I armistice, pauses our daily cycle to appreciate the veterans' experiences: baptism of fire, letters sent home to allay anxious loved ones, and an individual commitment to support the man who wears the same uniform.  As a veteran, I respected not only the color of the uniform but also the colors red, white, and blue.  In Nassau County, there is at least one organization that subverted the purpose of Veterans Day and continues to propagate bias toward the second color: Education, Research, Advocacy, and Support to Eliminate Racism (i.e., ERASE Racism).

  Last year, ERASE Racism solicited all Nassau County School Districts for their "Students Partnering to Achieve Racial Equity" program on Veterans Day.[1]  While we can praise a program that fosters respect among men, should ERASE Racism promote it as providing "an added dimension of purpose and service on a 'day off'?"[2]  Should we “Build student awareness and appreciation for diversity," “Develop [an] understanding of structural and institutional racism...", “Inspire student activism for social justice in their schools and communities,”[3] and not "recognize the valor and sacrifice of our veterans..." as stated by a Presidential Proclamation?[4] 

  I contacted Rosemarie Walker (no relation to Nassau County Legislator Rose Marie Walker), ERASE Racism's event coordinator, about "taking the students to a military parade or monument" and received a conciliatory e-mail appreciating "my interest and sentiments with regards to Veterans Day."  My friends and I purchased an advertisement in the Anton Newspaper chain that requested the public to "Keep Veterans in Veterans Day"--you may have seen it.  

  I do not know what ERASE Racism taught the young students on Veterans Day; however, I do know of the purported benefit to attend their other "training events."  Adults from 20 to 70-years-old attended their "Unraveling Racism Training I."  From public officials to public school teachers, they "probe[d] the reality and daily experience of individuals, institutional racism, and white privilege."[5]  From Chief Executive Officers to office workers, they "uncover[d] the systemic linkages among racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ableism, anti-Semitism, ageism, and all forms of oppression."[6]  Ultimately, what will you gain from attending this course?  Jona Olsson, a white trainer, states, "In a racist society like the United States, all white people–even white people of conscience–benefit from their white privilege. Rather than blame or guilt, this training helps white people recognize white privilege and offers them new skills to be effective anti-racist advocates in their own spheres of influence."[7]  "Privilege?" I am "privileged" to advocate for living veterans' issues while my fallen brothers cannot.  I am "privileged" to have served in the finest military force that defends freedom.  I am "privileged" to live in a free society.

  I ask that you bear a few more comments from Ms. Olsson: "We distance ourselves from 'other' white people. We see only confirmed bigots, cardcarrying white supremacists and white people outside our circle as 'real racists.' We put other white people down, trash their work or behavior, or otherwise dismiss them.  We righteously consider ourselves white people who have evolved beyond our racist conditioning. This is another level of denial. There are no “ 'exceptional white people.' ”[8]  You may find these comments in her essay titled "Detour-Spotting for White Anti-Racists"--ERASE Racism posted it in the "Race and Racism Library" section of their website.  Did Ms. Olsson deny the "exceptional" gallantry displayed by men--including "white people"--from World War II to our present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan?  Would she deny the man who fought along side his brother in combat as "not evolved beyond...racist conditioning?"  Let her consider Medal of Honor recipient and New York State resident Marine Corporal Jason L. Dunham:

"Corporal Dunham's squad was conducting a reconnaissance mission in the town of Karabilah, Iraq, when they heard rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire erupt approximately two kilometers to the west. Corporal Dunham led his Combined Anti-Armor Team towards the engagement to provide fire support to their Battalion Commander's convoy, which had been ambushed as it was traveling to Camp Husaybah. As Corporal Dunham and his Marines advanced, they quickly began to receive enemy fire. Corporal Dunham ordered his squad to dismount their vehicles and led one of his fire teams on foot several blocks south of the ambushed convoy. Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade. Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines. By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty, Corporal Dunham gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."[9]

  ERASE Racism probably did not discuss veterans’ issues with Nassau County students on Veterans Day.  While I can only speculate if Ms. Olsson's repugnant philosophy permeated the "Students Partnering to Achieve Racial Equity" program, ERASE Racism and its president, Elaine Gross, share similar sentiments--that is, beneath the veneer of "institutional," they associate "white" with "racism" and "privilege." 

  Ms. Gross wrote an opinion column titled "Racism Feeds on Embedded Privilege" in the July 19, 2002 edition of Newsday.  She wrote, "How does white privilege work?  First, it denies the implications of our history of institutional racism.  It supports the rationalization that blacks and whites really have a level playing field and that differences between blacks and whites are not due to racism but are because of blacks' inferiority or due to happenstance.  Second, it hampers the 'undoing' of institutional racism because it fosters the illusion that the privileges that whites enjoy are entitlements based on merit and should be fiercely guarded."[10]  In her speech at New Horizons for Long Island: Undoing Institutional Racism and Overcoming Regional Inequities, she quoted Professor Peggy McIntosh (a "contemporary white writer"),  " 'In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth…' 'To redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimensions. The silences and denials surrounding privilege are the key political tool here. They keep the thinking about equality or equity incomplete, protecting unearned advantage and conferred dominance by making these subjects taboo…' "[11]  Ms. Gross concluded, "What Professor McIntosh is talking about here is institutional racism.  Institutional racism in the U.S. shapes systems and structures in ways that bring advantage to whites and disadvantage to African Americans and other people of color. Institutional racism can thrive even in the absence of overt bigotry."[12]

PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR ERASE RACISM’S SPONSORS (FROM THEIR 2008 ANNUAL REPORT)