In 1970, in the wake of Secretary of the Navy, John Chafee’s ALNAV 51 on equal opportunity, Admiral Zumwalt released a pioneering document, Z-Gram 66: “Equal Opportunity in the Navy.” In this message, he noted, “What struck me more than anything else was the depth of feeling of our Black personnel that there is significant discrimination in the Navy.”1
Fifty years later, the June 3rd statement from the 32nd CNO, Admiral Michael Gilday, stated, “I can’t imagine the pain and disappointment and anger that many of you felt when you saw that [the choking of George Floyd].”2
Admiral Gilday was not the only one who had such sentiments. LTJG Felix Iheanacho, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Naval Health Clinic Quantico, Quantico, VA. promulgated an all-hands Inclusion and Diversity Stand Down. I remember seeing the innate zeal in LTJG Iheanacho’ s eyes when he brought up this Inclusion and Diversity Stand Down, but more importantly, I remember his auspicious words, “This will happen. It is long overdue.”
The minted discussions that took place included John Henry Balch Naval Health Clinic Quantico, John H. Bradley Branch Medical Clinic, David R. Ray The Basic School, and Washington Navy Yard BHC. These sessions were broken down into 23 small groups, ensuring that social distancing protocols were fully implemented. They included Sailors of every rank, from E-1 to O-6, Contractors, and Federal Employees. While the time allotted for each group was one hour, more times than not, these conversations were sometimes so cathartic, they were ongoing.
Commanding Officer, CAPT Lonnie Hosea and Command Master Chief, CMC Brian Campbell, positioned themselves front and center at every session. Not only were they present, they were actively listening to generate tangible momentum for concrete action toward a more inclusive Command and most importantly, a more inclusive Navy. The conversations began with CAPT Hosea acknowledging that while there are different forms of discrimination, our main focus at these discussions was racial discrimination. One thing that CAPT Hosea also hallmarked was that, “This will not be our last discussion regarding discrimination.”
The foundations of naval leadership are built through training and experiences, and these discussions were just that.
You could feel the austerity and anguish that many felt when they shared their stories. How can we disregard the junior Sailor who has been in the Navy for less than 6 months and has a checklist of reasons why racism exists in our Navy? Or the Sailor that was called the “N word” by one of her Shipmates? After trying to correct her Shipmate, she was told, “You’re going to have to grow some tougher skin.”
How can we ignore the African American Chief Petty Officer who was scrutinized and whose integrity was questioned by one of her Caucasian colleagues for Chairing a Junior Sailor of the Quarter Board comprised of all African American board members for the first time in her 16 years of honorable Naval Service?
How can we pretend that our Civilian employee who had the same qualifications as his counterpart was passed over for promotion, not once but twice, and not think it was because of the color of his skin?
Should we also ignore the Lieutenant Commander who is labeled as aggressive, defensive and having a bad attitude while her counterpart who is equally as boisterous is said to be passionate?
Last but certainly not least, how can we ignore our civilian and military members who are scared to jog through their neighborhood because of the death of Ahmaud Arbery?
These are only some of the unequivocal burdens that minorities expressed that they have faced and continue to face.
Amidst these agonizing discussions, there were several sanguine questions raised: Why do Officer Promotion Boards include names instead of DOD ID Numbers? Sometimes one’s name can indirectly elude to their race or ethnicity. Why is the Navy the only branch of service that has not had an African American as their most senior enlisted leader? Why do minorities make up most of non-judicial punishment and court martial in the Navy?
These candid conversations highlighted that change will require more sustained effort than having monthly ethnic celebrations, emails, and a one-time all-hands call. Change will require measurable inclusion and diversity benchmarks because after five decades of innovative change and training, we still find ourselves having the same conversations. While some things have gotten better, we identified that we still have some work to do.
LTJG Iheanacho ended each discussion with a challenge. He challenged 393 individuals to not just oppose racism, but to be anti-racist. What is the difference? LTJG Iheanacho explained that someone who opposes racism does not practice racism personally while someone who is anti-racist takes action to eliminate racism. In the words of LTJG Iheanacho, “Not being racist is just not enough. We need change.”
References
1. ADM Elmo Zumwalt, USN, “Equal Opportunity in the Navy,” Naval Message CNO Z-66, 17 December 1970.
2. ADM Mike Gilday, USN, “CNO Message to Sailors,” 3 June 2020.