The Marine who killed a Black man on the NYC subway was a white man, 24 yrs of age, from Queens, NY.
It’s been days, but he is still not named publicly, still no info about his background, affiliations, history.
Why does this matter?
A thread:
6 yrs ago, a houseless NYer & Black man, Timothy Caughman was stabbed to death by a vigilante supremacist Army veteran who drove to NYC from MD specifically to carry out terroristic hate crimes vs BM.
It was as important then, as it is now, for mil veterans to rise against hate.
Something that went widely overlooked back then was how this homicidal, supremacist veteran was reported to have been harboring feelings of racial hatred/violence for at least 10 yrs.
Which makes you wonder about his experience & conduct when he deployed to AFG in 2011, armed.
To this day I have not watched footage of the cop murdering George Floyd.
Today I saw the video of the Marine exercising the same tactic on Jordan Neely.
And I have to wonder if he was a cop.
In the military, domestically, fed?
Who drilled him to do that as “de-escalation”?
Over the last decade I’ve advocated to disrupt harmful stereotypes about military veterans & have challenged ills within the military and veteran systems themselves.
As a former intelligence analyst in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars…
… it’s obvious the “Global War On Terror” architects, profiteers, and lap dogs are committed to ignoring all the ways their regressive and harmful doctrine systematically sowed, spread, and normalized racialized bias and nationalistic bigotry instead of deterring it 👀
As a regrettable reminder, the Army and Marine Corps remain the most regressive branches w the worst, most costly problems💰
Racial & gendered violence within the ranks & on installations continue❤️🩹
Yet to #ShutDownFortHood despite more obscured troops’ deaths/suicides☠️🪦
Much to say but ultimately reminded that there is no abolishing violent supremacy or abuse of power within our government, institutions, or our communities if we do not question & interrupt the normed supremacy, violence, and regressive biases and gaps within our spaces & selves.
As for the Marine, why wasn’t he detained & his identity withheld?
Will the @USMC revoke his DD214/benefits?
Will the Marine Corps publicly address this or their own internal racialized violence?
The Commandant still remains unfired & owes Thae Ohu & her family reparations.
Many civilians don’t understand the specific cultural or operational contexts of military branches or federal LE & I can’t emphasize the WEIGHT of being a Marine👀
Betrayers of power & abusers of human rights should have their military titles, veteran status & benefits stripped.
I encourage #milvets #veterans #Marines speak out wherever you are planted in service of sowing seeds of justice & change🌻💜🦋
Feel free to use, share & add to the chorus of powerful voices past & present #VetsvsHate & #VetsforBlackLives ✨
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