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Thanks for several LaVena efforts
Kim Brummell, an Army veteran and member of the North Carolina American Civil Liberties Union, has written about PFC LaVena Johnson in a post titled “Deadly Wall of Silence.”
How will cases like this affect women signing up for the service and staying in the military? How will it affect the respect citizens have for our soldiers? How could we trust the military to help secure this nation when we may have cold-blooded murderers in a uniform wearing a U.S. flag? I got nothing but love for the military. The service taught me a lot. On the contrary, an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere. Where can you run and hide when your allies become your enemies?
Thanks much to Kim for her perspective as a former soldier and for her expression of concern for the service, for women in uniform, and for the Johnson family.
I also want to thank two people who - through separate efforts at the same time - brought the LaVena effort to the attention of ColorofChange.org. Activist Danielle Vyas contacted the advocacy group even as she launched her own Care2-based petition to Congress and the President. Gemina13, a DailyKos blogger, wrote a diary there about LaVena and also contacted ColorofChange. Their efforts helped to bring about the ColorofChange-sponsored petition to Representative Henry Waxman and the House Oversight Committee which he chairs. Thanks again, very much, to both Danielle and Gemina13.
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ColorofChange.org launches LaVena petition
New LaVena petition
Hearing on military sexual assault
Feministing, BuzzFlash on LaVena
DailyKos diary on LaVena
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4 comments for “Thanks for several LaVena efforts”
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I heard the interview with the Johnsons on Pacifica radio this morning. I am outraged. Our military is hiding beasts, and the macho repressive bosses that run the Defense Department ensure this information is repressed. Only a tidal wave of citizens can overturn this brutality, which I believe is WAY more pervasive on many fronts than people believe.
Thanks for the comment, Tom - and for confirming for me that the interview actually aired!
I heard the interview with the Johnson’s yesterday afternoon on KBOO radio here in Portland, Oregon and cried. Philip, I am outraged all over again and yet so glad that Lavena Johnson’s death is finally beginning to get the attention it deserves. I know you and her parents have been working to expose this for a long time. It was good to hear them and Colonel Ann Wright, a true hero who is helping their family and the families of other soldiers who have been abused by the military.
It’s great to hear from you, Anne. You were helpful and encouraging in the early days of this effort, and I’ve always appreciated it.
The public attention given LaVena’s case has always been a bit like a sinewave - lots of peaks, lots of valleys. I think that may be changing now, though, and we’ll see more of a sustained awareness - and maybe even some action.