Thread by @JABell27

@JimLaPorta A sea story thread. So by year 19 of a 20-year career, I'd seen a total of maybe three EEO complaints filed. In every case, a (white/male) CO decided the perp was "just joking around" & they & the plaintiff should "shake hands & be shipmates." 1/

@JimLaPorta (I *had* heard of sailors calling an Iranian American seaman on our ship all sorts of awful names, & this was years before 9/11. But I digress.) I'd tried, in that awkward way that well-meaning & stupid white officers have, to check on how things were w/any Black sailors or 2/

@JimLaPorta Marines assigned to me. The answer was always, "Everything's fine, ma'am. Nothing to worry yourself about here." Not knowing any better—or, when I suspected "fine" meant the exact opposite, how to break through to an honest conversation—I took it at face value. 3/

@JimLaPorta In Year 19, I'm working at the Office of the Naval Inspector General. Our flag writer, a former YNC & mustang LT, is Black. M-. was squared-away, smart, politically savvy (ya gotta be to write for a 3-star), kind, a great dad, basically the ideal shipmate. 4/

@JimLaPorta And one day—don't remember what the trigger was—he just SNAPPED. Never saw anything like it. Two of us sat down w/him, and it just all poured out. Maybe not EVERY horrible racist thing that had happened to him in almost 30 years of Navy service, but 5/

@JimLaPorta enough to take up almost 3 hours of the day. My jaw was sagging so hard I just about gave myself TMJ, you know what I'm saying? The things people did & said to him, or around him as if being Black and a yeoman somehow made him as insensate as a tree stump...don't know how 6/

@JimLaPorta I wasn't angry-crying by the time he was done. And I said, tentatively, "Is it...like that for EVERYONE in the Navy who's Black?" And he said, "Actual experiences may vary, but yeah, pretty much everybody." And that's when it hit me. 7/

@JimLaPorta In 19 years, for whatever reason (and there could well be many), I had not been the kind of officer my Black shipmates felt they could come to if they needed to talk about the racism they experienced & how it was affecting them. 19 years I'd been letting them down. 8/

@JimLaPorta Jim, it is my single greatest regret about my time in the Navy. I served w/so many amazing sailors of all heritages and ethnic backgrounds. They deserved better leadership. They deserved a safe place to come, & a safe ear to listen when they were hurting. 9/

@JimLaPorta Folks, if we served together & you're reading this & you're one of the people I failed in this way: I'm so sorry. 10/end

@JimLaPorta [Also note: Still have this ridiculous idealistic notion that officers are supposed to FIX problems somehow. You'd think 20 years would've knocked that out of me.]