SEN Ron Wyden: Why is GI Justice MIA?

On Saturday, July 13th, senior Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is hosting a townhall at Linn-Benton Community College here in Albany. I am planning to be there to ask him about hate crimes protections for military families that are not being enforced, and I’d like your help.

What’s Going On

Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley were both present to vote Yes on Amendment 1616 to the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), also known as The Soldier’s Amendment. Wyden voted in support of hate crimes protections for military families, but he doesn’t seem to want to do anything other than that.

Despite plenty of hate crimes targeting military families from Baltimore and New York to Cincinnati and Chicago, The Soldiers Amendment has never been enforced in the fifteen years it has been federal law.

When I had Congressman David Trone circulate an open letter to the Department of Justice asking why military familes were being denied equal protection, Wyden refused to sign on;

Only five Congressional Representatives signed an open letter asking the executive branch why it was not enforcing military civil rights.

Why this is important

HCPA Section 4702(5) defined why a hate crime calls for special concern, because it “savages the community sharing the traits that caused the victim to be selected.” Since hate harms the entire group, not just an individual victim, hate crimes protections are meant for the whole rather than its parts.

Most anti-military hate crimes are treated as domestic terrorism because it’s easier to get confessions and convictions. We also like to think of terrorists as foreigners infiltrating our country, but hate crimes are committed by Americans against Americans. The first civil rights acts, after all, were passed to protect black citizens from the KKK, a (domestic) terrorist organization.

By refusing to enforce the Soldiers Amendment, federal officials and agencies are turning their backs on veterans and their families. If they want to come to Albany, then they should explain why military civil rights are MIA from federal priorities.

How You Can Help

Albany is my home, where my military family hopes to live without fear of hate and bias. It is where I recently announced a new MIA, an community organization devoted to civil rights for military families just like its 1955 namesake. This new MIA will pick up where it left off, not in Georgia, but Oregon.

Most of my readers do not live in Oregon, or even Albany. But as a federal issue affecting 23 million Americans in the Total Force and veteran communities, your voice matters no matter where you currently reside. And that’s what I’m asking you for; your voice.

This message brought to you by the Military Improvement Association.

I first invited Ron Wyden’s Congressional office to discuss military civil rights with me on March 28, 2024. An autoreply reassured me he was “fighting tooth and nail on multiple fronts to protect the health, economic well-being, and quality of life of Oregonians and all Americans.” If that’s true then he sucks at fighting, because I can’t tell what he’s done for my community and he seems happy to keep me in the dark.

It’s time to pick up your phone and fire up your email, because this is where you come in.

I am asking you for your voice.

Before week’s end, I would like you contact Wyden’s Congressional office and tell them how much you care about military civil rights. Then ask them why Ron Wyden does not.

Ron Wyden: Explain why GI Justice is MIA

I’m still waiting for that meeting I requested with my Senator, and I’ve asked a couple times since, with no response. If you think you can get through to him, that email is senator_wyden@wyden.senate.gov.

If you’re an American that Wyden claims to be fighting for, you can call his office in DC: (202) 224-5244. If you’re an Oregonian, call the Wyden office closest to you;

Bend: (541) 330-9142; Eugene: (541) 431-0229; La Grande: (541) 962-7691; Medford: (541) 858-5122; Portland: (503) 326-7525; Salem: (503) 589-4555.

Why You Should Help

Some of you have noticed that I’ve paywalled everything on Martinalia older than two weeks, because I’m treating it as a sandbox for essays or ideas before I refine or discard them. If you can send me a screenshot of your call history with one of the above numbers, I’ll give you a complimentary subscription. That will let you look back at how I’ve developed over time and how some ideas have evolved, from exegesis stuff to advocacy.

But if my writing isn’t your cuppa tea, then do it because it’s the right thing. There’s something of a 'boiling-a-calf-in-its-mothers-milk in denying rights to the people who fight for them. As a minority, the military community will never prevail in a direct democracy, that’s why ours is representative. It’s Ron’s job to represent interests of the few, to protect against a tyranny of the majority. Even if I have nothing of value to offer, I hope you’ll take five minutes to add your voice to mine when I ask Ron on Saturday:

Why is GI Justice Missing in Action?