US Military Confronts Its Own Racial Reckoning
The American military, with its own history of segregation, is one of the many institutions dealing with the nation's current racial reckoning.
The U.S. military is one of the many institutions facing the nation’s reckoning on racial injustice.
James Stavridis, retired Navy admiral and former NATO supreme allied commander, says it’s time for all branches of the military to rename bases that honor Confederate officers and ban public displays of the Confederate flag.
While he points out how far the military has come since an executive order from President Harry Truman desegregated the armed forces in 1948, he says there’s still a long way to go.
“I think the services are paying attention to this issue,” he says. “But we still have instances of racism. We still have pockets of concern around the military. We’re gonna be working at it like everybody else for a long time to come.”
