In the wake of George Floyd's death and international upheaval, our team at MilitaryMentors felt the need to step into the leadership conversation around justice and equality. On behalf of the team, and the leaders and mentors we support, here are the thoughts of our Executive Director.
As I’ve watched increasing media coverage of injustice against men who look like me and been reminded of countless murders of Black people in recent times, I remain torn, as my first thought after utter pain is sadly and selfishly the idea that this could have been me...
This violence is not new. It is not a series of isolated events. As an organization committed to improving leaders, my team and I at MilitaryMentors condemn racism, injustice, inequality, intolerance, prejudice, entitlement, and abuse of power. MilitaryMentors grips hands with those who have experienced and continue to experience racial violence and oppression.
In moments like this I must ask, “Are you a leader?” Leaders have a responsibility to improve the lives of those around them and make their organizations better. Connecting with, including, and mentoring people who may not look like you will push diversity into places of opportunity and higher levels of leadership, fostering the momentum for much needed, equitable, systematic change.
Despite the "politicization" of recent events, the motivating incidents are completely apolitical. There are some that clearly don’t understand the difference between politics and a politicized issue, and they’ll remain quiet. Part of the problem of institutionalized inequality and racism is the silence of too many... much of it being people in the majority. Complacency stokes the coals of prejudice. As someone who’s served this country and as a person of color, I believe that people who become bystanders in times like these are complicit with the continued blatant injustice.
MilitaryMentors serves mostly professional military officers. As such, we reaffirm our publicly taken oaths—to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Veterans have served in the dirt and danger with people of all creeds, backgrounds, and cultures, and we’ll all continue to do so as the country asks. If we can stop oppression elsewhere, we can fight it here too. Our motto is “Start a conversation. Spark a transformation.” Push away from the media storm, do a clear-eyed self-assessment, and check in with others. I charge you to get up, get out, and start bridging the differences between folks.
Maya Angelou once said “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” This ain’t easy, but we know better, so let’s do better. Whereas my views do not represent the views of the DoD and are my own as Executive Director of MilitaryMentors, we’re going to catch flak for whatever is said and maybe you will as well. So did the pilots flying over Germany fighting against the bigotry and hatred of the WWII era - literal flak - but they were on the right side of history. Let’s be there too. Please see our video of this message here.
- Chevy Cook, Executive Director
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