Trump’s divisiveness is a threat to American strength and progress
Lieut. Gen. Julius Becton, Jr. (ret.), U.S. Army
I was a junior at Lower Merion High School, just outside of Philadelphia, when the now-legendary General Hap Arnold came out to speak to our class. Hap Arnold was also a graduate of Lower Merion. I’ll never forget it; after his speech, I and many of my friends took the battery of tests required to join the military.
I served in the United States Army for almost 40 years. I saw combat in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, and became the sixth African-American soldier ever to become a general officer. My experiences tell me that the duty of Commander-in-Chief is one that demands both ability and empathy. Donald Trump has proved he has neither. To protect and propel the progress we’ve made, as a nation and as a military, we must elect Hillary Clinton as our next President.
I joined a segregated military in 1944. I still remember the 1940’s, the indignities of sitting in the back of the bus, using separate restrooms, and drinking from a water fountains labeled “colored.” I’ve seen firsthand the incredible strides we’ve taken to deliver equal justice under the law — in our military and across America.
President Truman signed an executive order integrating the military in 1948, but the last all-black unit wasn’t disbanded until 1954. I fought and commanded amongst racial tensions. During World War II, I served in an all black, segregated unit, the 93rd division. On the island of Morotai in the Pacific, the 93rd fought alongside the all-white 31st division, and when we were not fighting the enemy, we fought each other.
When the military integrated, there were some who disagreed and dissented, a vocal few with narrow experience and backwards thinking who believed skin color was enough to justify different treatment.
Make no mistake: Donald Trump has proven that he is one among those narrow-minded few who do not understand what makes us strong. He would undo the progress for which so many have served, fought, and marched.
In the very first speech of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, he demeaned Mexican immigrants as rapists. Instead of offering solutions, he dismisses inner city neighborhoods where people of color struggle and succeed as “hell.” The most direct and appalling insult to our military — and to all Americans — is when Donald Trump insulted the Gold Star family of a fallen soldier, Captain Humayun Khan, because of his family’s faith and background.
I remember in my first decade of service how people just like Donald Trump, narrow-minded and inexperienced, made claims that our military would be weakened by integration. That sentiment rears its ugly head today, as some still condemn opening combat positions to women or allowing our gay brothers and sisters to openly serve. Trump proudly fuels that regressive idea; on the issue of sexual assault in our military, he tweeted: “what did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”
Through his actions, Donald Trump proves he is unfit to be our Commander in Chief. He is no leader, and neither are those who support him, such as PA Senatorial Candidate Pat Toomey. They don’t understand what makes us strong, and are unfit to lead.
America is a place where character and commitment are championed regardless of background, belief, or ethnicity. It is only in such a nation that the black son of a janitor and a domestic worker, among racial division, could eventually rise to the rank of Lieutenant General in the most powerful land force on earth.
Hillary Clinton knows that our diversity is our strength, and her actions show it. When she was just out of law school, she worked to stop the incarceration of teenagers in adult prisons in South Carolina. She went undercover to uncover school segregation in Alabama. Her decades of public service as First Lady, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of State have been defined by that central value: strength through inclusiveness.
The history of our military and our country proves the more we accept, rather than divide, the stronger we are. Only one candidate understands, and has lived, that truth: Hillary Clinton.
Lieut. Gen. Julius Becton (ret.) served 40 years in the U.S. Army. He later served as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, president of Prairie View A&M University, and superintendent of the Washington, D.C. public school system.
