Morning everyone.

I’d like to add some perspective to what has happened over the course of the last couple of days with the unholy response to the death of Sgt. La David Johnson.

I attended the US Military Academy briefly(I’m considered a Veteran by law-with an honorable discharge from the US Army, though I usually don’t refer to myself as a Veteran), my Father is a Veteran, my Uncle is a Veteran-he nearly died in Vietnam and still suffers from the affect of poisoning-likely Agent Orange. Other relatives fought in Korea, WWII, WWI, ect. One of the things my family going back had to deal with is very obvious to anyone who understands history. Black men who served honorably and contributed to US Military success around the world, were discriminated against, beaten, humiliated, and lived under the boot of white supremacy as a reward for their service. Not only did they suffer, but these circumstances caused suffering in many ways for our family.

Family is important to many people. It traditionally has held a great importance to members of Black America.(I’ll post my Ancestry stuff here in a bit. It has been a gift seeing what the community here has shared) And as what was posted above:
re: #214 JordanRules
the concept of the “Black Family” is distorted through the eyes of white privilege as to what is normal or not normal. Rep. Wilson is just as much a part of Sgt. Johnson’s family as any other blood relative. When Trump/Kelly said what they said, it was an insult to Rep. Wilson and her family-Including La David and Myesha Johnson.
This attack hit me as well. This wasn’t just about Rep. Wilson. Kelly attacked the Black Family. This was a white supremacist attack on the Black Family. Those attacks feel like what my older relatives described- how they felt coming back home to live under Jim Crow, after fighting fascists around the world.

Don’t know if that conveyed super clear, apologize if it didn’t. Yesterday kinda upset me a bit.