U.S. Service Members Are Turning Down Assignments Due To Racism
According to a new survey, racism with the armed forces is making service members reject assignments.
Star and Stripes reports, a survey by Blue Star Families and Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families stated 42 percent of active-duty troops of color had concerns about racism at particular bases, which resulted in them rejecting assignments.
Tonya Murphy, a fellow with Blue Star Families who participated in the study, told the outlet, “We have had good people across all branches leave because of negative experiences with either being sent somewhere where they were not safe or did not feel safe, or where they were harassed.”
Murphy, who is Black, said she and her white husband Scotty, a Navy submariner, balked at an assignment to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia and a stint at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Tennessee out of concern for the safety of their sons – ages 15, 13, and 9.
The survey states other troops and their families have made similar decisions knowing that their career advancement could be negatively affected. It also relays that around 66 percent of minority troops who turned down orders said they were given a less attractive assignment, saw less opportunity for promotion, received a poorer evaluation or had their careers ended.
A majority of the regions that troops and their families specifically expressed concerns about racial profiling and discrimination included the Midwest, South and West.
The report reveals that one in three Black family members of active-duty personnel reported being racially profiled by police.
Nearly 70 percent of the surveyed active-duty minority service members agreed that they were regarded as valued by their military community, and 79 percent said the military positively influenced their professional growth. That said, 41 percent also said they had experienced racial and/or ethnic discrimination or harassment by their peers.
Read the full report here.
