KPCC in Pasadena and LAist are hosting a virtual town hall on Thursday, December 10, which discuss the history and current status of racism in the military justice system.
This free event, from 5 to 6 p.m., will feature many special guest speakers: Richard Brookshire, Co-founder and Executive Director of Black Veterans Project; retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Don Christensen, President of Protect Our Defenders; and Major Coretta Gray, former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force.
They will talk about how the defense establishment has responded to a finding by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in May 2019 that black members of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps “were about twice as likely as white servicemembers to be tried in general and special courts-martial.”
The GAO report was requested by Congress in response to a 2017 report on racial disparity in the military justice system from the nonprofit Protect Our Defenders. After reviewing data from military justice and disciplinary proceedings, Protect our Defenders found that the military’s leadership “has been aware of significant racial disparity in its justice process for years, and has made no apparent effort to find the cause of the disparity or remedy it.”
In June of this year, the top legal officers for all four military services told a Congressional hearing that it will take a lot of work to address and eradicate racial disparities from the military justice system.
In this KPCC/LAist event, Robert Garrova will moderate the town hall discussion.
KPCC and LAist are also encouraging anyone with experience in the military justice system to share their stories. You can do so on this page, https://kpcclaist.typeform.
To RSVP for the event, visit www.scpr.org/events/2020/12/
This event is part of the American Homefront Project, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
