Racism In The Military Justice System - A KPCC/LAist Virtual Town Hall

As the country confronts its history of systemic racism, the military is facing its own reckoning. In May 2019, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that Black members of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps “were about twice as likely as White servicemembers to be tried in general and special courts-martial.” The GAO report was requested by Congress in response to a 2017 report on racial disparity in the military justice system from the nonprofit Protect Our Defenders. After reviewing data from military justice and disciplinary proceedings, Protect our Defenders found: “Military leadership has been aware of significant racial disparity in its justice process for years, and has made no apparent effort to find the cause of the disparity or remedy it.” In June of this year, the top legal officers for all four military services told a Congressional hearing that it will take a lot of work to eradicate racial disparities from the military justice system. The beginning of that work is to talk about it. On December 10, KPCC/LAist’s Robert Garrova and guests held a town hall on racial disparity in military justice and the plans to address it. GUESTS Richard Brookshire, Co-founder and Executive Director, Black Veterans Project Col Don Christensen, USAF ret., President, Protect Our Defenders Maj Coretta Gray, former Judge Advocate General USAF This event is part of the American Homefront Project, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.