A SHAME AND A DISGRACE
by Cash Michaels
In the quaint little home that my lovely wife and I share, hangs the U.S. Air Force uniform hat once worn by her late father, a lieutenant colonel, right over his official portrait. And near the base of a staircase in our home is the American flag that the Air Force solemnly gave her mother upon his death.
Neither the Air Force uniform hat nor the folded American flag specifically denote the fact that my wife’s father was a proud Black man who served his country with dignity during both the Korean conflict and the Vietnam War. They just prove that he was a distinguished and dedicated officer in our United States military.
Like so many other proud African-American members of the U.S. military, all he ever asked for from his country was a fair opportunity to serve, and to be treated like anyone else who had earned his country’s respect.
So the subject of African-Americans in the military who selflessly serve our country is a sensitive one for me. First, I’m immensely proud of their service, proud that despite a tattered history of mistreatment by the country they obviously love, they historically have put their lives on the line, ready to give their last measure, just like their white counterparts. In that context, there is no difference between white blood and black blood, especially during a time of war.
Both are precious when they are shed to guarantee the freedom our Constitution says we’re all entitled to.
When I think of such noteworthy and heroic African-American patriots like Crispus Attucks; Peter Salem; William Carney; the Buffalo Soldiers; the 369th Infantry Harlem Hellfighters; the Tuskegee Airmen; Navy Cross winner Dorie Miller; the Six-Triple-Eight All-Black Female Battalion; the 761st Tank Battalion; Generals Benjamin O, Davis Sr. and Jr.; Air Force Four-Star Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr.; Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Colin Powell; Four-Star Army General/Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin; Marine Corps Four-Star Gen. Michael E. Langley, and many other Americans of color who so loved a country that did not love them back, I can only express pride in their sacrifices, courage and contributions to this nation.
Who would I point to out of the many brave Black men and women who proudly served in our US military in terms of proven excellence? It would have to be Four-Star General Colin Powell, who, beyond serving as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also rose to the level of National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.
The poor child of Jamaican immigrants raised in the Bronx and Harlem, NY, Powell, by his very life and career, showed that the US military (which he joined in 1958 after it was desegregated in 1948) was a place where African-Americans could historically succeed, and show that they are as skilled, dedicated to service, and honorable as any other American in uniform.
In his 1995 autobiography, Powell, who died in 2021 after complications from COVID, wrote about being Black in the military:
“I did not feel inferior, and I was not going to let anybody make me believe I was. I was not going to allow someone else's feelings about me to become my feelings about myself. Racism was not just a black problem. It was America's problem. And until the country solved it, I was not going to let bigotry make me a victim instead of a full human being. I occasionally felt hurt; I felt anger; but most of all I felt challenged.”
Colin Powell was a patriot AND a proud Black man. History can never say otherwise.
Now, enter Pete “Unhinged” Hegeseth - a modern-day racist, sexist and disgraceful Trump failure.
This clown wants so badly to be seen as a man’s man, it’s pathetic. He refers to himself as the “Secretary of War” of the “Department of War.” In fact, Hegeseth is a prominent stooge of Donald Trump who is as qualified to be leading our superb US military, as a size four foot is qualified to fit into a size ten shoe.
By now you know that Hegeseth is a loudmouth who used to co-host the weekend edition of the right-wing Fox and Friends show on TV. Apparently there was at least one fan always watching, and that fan,Trump, offered Hegeseth the job of heading up the US Defense Dept. if he were to be re-elected to the presidency.
And what were Pete’s qualifications for such an important Cabinet post?
Besides serving as a US Army major in the Minnesota Army National Guard
at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, he also headed up some veterans organizations. So Hegeseth never wore a general’s or admiral’s star, or did anything to define himself as a seasoned military leader worthy of even shining a real general’s shoes.
On the downside, this clown conservative is on the record opposing women in the military (says standards were lowered for them) and believing Blacks in the military don’t measure up (because of DEI); in 2017 he had to pay $50,000 to settle a sexual assault claim (he maintains what allegedly happened was “consensual”); has a documented drinking problem and is a tattooed believer in a Christian Nationalist sect that may have white supremacist connections.
Hegeseth’s a wannabe, and yet there he is, an embarrassing testament to Donald Trump’s lineup of loyalty puppets who follow his every whim.
I’ve previously nailed Hegeseth for “proudly posting videos of his “Christian” pastor extolling the virtues of denying women the right to vote, vowing to re-erect torn down Confederate statues (remember, he re-renamed Fort Bragg after a Confederate general), and sent secret attack plans to other top government officials via open commercial chat rooms.”
That’s what makes Hegeseth so troubling. This clown isn’t serving his country. He’s serving his master. And it explains his careless bigotry against women and African-Americans who’ve earned their way up the ranks.
Approximately 43% of active-duty military are people of color, but the upper echelon of leadership is sadly lacking. Trump and Pete want to keep it that way.
And now, in the middle of a war, old “Unhinged” Hegeseth has borrowed one of those infamous black markers from his boss, and unceremoniously crossed out the names of four qualified and vetted military candidates for one-star general that were headed to the Senate for approval.
Four - reportedly two Black and two female colonels. And per reporting, there are “more than a dozen” other senior military officers based on race, gender “or perceived ties to the Biden Administration” across all four branches of the US military he has allegedly intervened in to block or delay promotion of in recent months.
Well-earned, qualified promotions that are normally determined by independent review boards. Defense secretaries traditionally don’t get involved.
And when the Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George asked to meet with Sec. Hegeseth about blocking those candidates, not only did Pete refuse, but he fired the man.
Remember last September when Pete told several hundred military leaders at Quantico that, “For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts?” he bellowed, with Trump listening and approving just off-stage.
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusions. No more debris,” he declared, adding that the US military will be returned to the “highest male standard.”
It is Pete and Trump’s political “War on Woke,” which includes firing the previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who was a Black general; the Navy’s top commander, who was a woman; and anybody else who supported an inclusive culture in the US military.
Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of NY, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants an investigation into the Hegeseth racial and sexist bias mess of blocking military promotions.
“Public reports allege that these holds may have been motivated by political ideology, inappropriate bias, or immutable and constitutionally protected characteristics rather than merit,” Sen. Gillibrand wrote in an April 3rd letter to her committee’s Republican chairman. “Military advancement must remain strictly meritocratic and based on performance.”
For the record, a “Dept. of War” spokesman disputes all of this, telling NBC News, "Under Secretary Hegseth, military promotions are given to those who have earned them. Meritocracy, which reigns in this Department, is apolitical and unbiased."
Y’all can talk about the outgoing US Attorney General Pam Bondi and gone-girl former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem (you know, the wacked woman who enjoys shooting puppies and whose husband reportedly likes to cross-dress) all you want. After insanely unqualified and undisciplined FBI Director Kash Patel
is also shown the door by a fed-up Trump, I’m hoping the days of “Sec. Of War” Pete Hegeseth are also numbered.
But I fear Trump won’t fire Pete for being disloyal (because Lord knows Hegeseth licks the back of Trump’s boots clean), but because he’ll figure out that he really doesn’t need all the trouble that Pete brings.
Our military was gold standard long before Hegeseth took over, and it will remain so after he’s gone. The only reason Trump keeps him around is because he’s tired of having his military leaders telling him what he can’t, or shouldn’t do.
But with General Dan Kane, the current chair of the Joint Chiefs, loyal and onboard, what does Trump need goofy-as-hell Hegeseth to share the spotlight with anymore?
With a war crimes-prone, genocidal-likely president threatening to wipeout Iranian civilization, and lying to the world that Iranian civilians actually want to be wiped out, and profanely swearing to do so in the name of “Allah” making this a bona fide Holy War, it is very clear that “Unhinged” Hegespeth has neither the brains, gravitas, nor decency to tell his boss to stop misusing our military this way.
The price of gas and groceries under Trump and Pete Hegeseth's war has gone way up. But the cost of human dignity and truth, has gone way, way down.
And from where I stand, THAT is a shame and disgrace!
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