CUMMINGS SILENT ON MILITARY CIVIL RIGHTS
POTUS' racism doesn't excuse snubbing men and women in uniform
As a combat veteran and resident of Baltimore, I am ashamed of our President’s attacks on our city and its leadership. But that does not excuse Representative Elijah Cummings from snubbing our men and women in uniform.
Donald Trump’s statements about Baltimore and Representative Elijah Cummings (MD-7) are beyond the pale. The sacrifices I made in uniform to support our union and its ideals leave me with a sense of deep sadness at the partisanship that has overwhelmed our political landscape. Cummings’ commentary before the House Oversight Committee was justified; he was addressing a high-ranking administrator responsible for the overall conditions at facilities managed by the Department of Homeland Security.
His fiery remarks concluded with the reminder that “We are the United States of America. We are the greatest country in the world. We are the ones that can go anywhere in the world and save people…” However, elements of his remarks mirrored the President’s tokenization of uniformed “men and women” to garner a few political points.
I was once one of those people that Elijah Cummings said “can go anywhere in the world and save people.” I was in Mosul the day Iraqi citizens voted for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s authoritarian regime. My family arrived in Baltimore in time to vote in the 2018 midterm elections, when Elijah Cummings secured his thirteenth term as the Representative of Maryland’s 7th congressional district.
Military families like ours deal with the same residual effects of uniformed service as veterans themselves do and face unique challenges as a dwindling population in America. Either their value to society is often undermined by tropes of being “broken,” or their legitimate concerns dismissed by accusations about “veteran entitlement.”
The fact is that uniformed men and women are a demographic minority with a jumble of civil rights intended to protect them from dehumanizing bias and prejudice. One of the laws that protect military families is part of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA)of 2009. The HCPA strengthened prior federal hate crimes by adding protections for gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. A provision of the bill known as The Soldiers Amendment also protects military families from crimes committed “on account of military service.”
Nobody should have to fear being the subject of hate or violence based on his or her uniformed service. Unfortunately, we cannot accurately gauge the extent of potential threats until the Department of Justice (DoJ) enforces 18 USC § 1389. The HCPA triggered additional collection of hate crimes data based on amendments it made to the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, but not only has the DoJ had a troubled history of collecting this information as a whole, its record with section 1389 is especially poor. There is no evidence that the DoJ has ever sought, recorded, or shared information on hate crimes motivated on account of military service.
Representative David Trone (MD-6) is currently circulating a letter to the DoJasking Attorney General Barr and FBI Director Wray for that evidence, to verify that their agencies are in fact enforcing 18 USC § 1389. Rep. Cummings is one of several elected officials asked to support those men and women who “can go anywhere in the world” by co-signing the letter. Earlier this week, however, his office informed me that he would not support the families whose sacrifices make manifest America’s commitment to human and civil rights around the world.
Letter to DoJ being circulated by David Trone (MD-6)
The President has continued his dishonorable rhetoric by claiming that the Reverend Al Sharpton, who visited Baltimore in the wake of POTUS’ tweets, “hates whites and cops.” I have no reason to think black leaders have anything against uniformed men and women. But what concerns me is not a person’s feelings toward past and present uniformed service members, but what a person does or does not do for them.
The men and women that Cummings praised as being ready to “go anywhere in the world and save people” are denied the same civil rights that their service secures. As chair of the House Oversight Committee, Representative Cummings has held executive agencies accountable when it serves partisan political interests, but not in service to our uniformed men and women. What does it matter how a good person feels if their actions perpetuate injustice?
The conditions at the border are despicable, and I hope immigrant families continue to receive the attention they deserve. But this is not zero-sum; doing right by our men and women in uniform does not necessarily compromise our commitment to the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” As Dr. King reminded us, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Our men and women in uniform need champions for civil rights, and I hope that Elijah Cummings chooses to be one of them.
