Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 Source: Ledger-Enquirer (GA) Copyright: 2004 Ledger-Enquirer Contact: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/enquirer/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/237 Author: Kaffie Sledge Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/kenneth+walker SHOOTING CASTS LONG SHADOW We've been told time and again that timing can make all the difference, so we shouldn't be surprised at the anger with which the initial request for 300 African-American veterans to go to Carver High School was met. Tina Cross, Carver's service learning coordinator, was asking for black vets to tell students about their war experiences. Some white veterans say the project is a slap in the face. What is worse, the school project is now worming its way into the shadows of the case of Kenneth B. Walker, an unarmed man fatally shot by a Muscogee County sheriff's deputy after authorities said he failed to comply with commands to show his hands. Walker and three other men were stopped the night of Dec. 10 as part of a drug investigation. But no drugs or weapons were found in the car. Dragging this student project into the shooting tensions simply shows that despite all we say and do, some of us still don't seem to respect the differences of others. And there are differences. The differing beliefs about the Walker case attest to that. A recent letter to the editor advised that blacks could avoid being killed by law enforcement during drug busts by ridding their neighborhoods of drug dealers. According to another letter writer, Walker was responsible for his own death. Letters to the editor are not color-coded, but it seems highly unlikely that either of the letter writers is black. Various segments of the community are at odds with each other regarding law enforcement's behavior in the Walker case; no wonder there is disagreement about a call for stories from black veterans. The project has been changed to include ALL veterans, but facts remain the same. Do the Tuskegee Airmen have the same war tales to tell as their white counterparts? In his in his autobiography, "My American Journey," Colin Powell remembers the "awarding" of medals in Vietnam. "... at one firebase the departing CO was awarded three Silver Stars, the nation's third-highest medal for valor, plus a clutch of other medals, after a tour lasting six months... . Awards were piled on to a point where writing justifying citations were a minor art form. The departing battalion commander's 'package,' a Silver Star, Legion of Merit, and Air Medals just for logging helicopter time, became almost standard issue." Powell also described the flip side of the process. Master Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez earned the Distinguished Service Cross, for valor in Vietnam, "where in 1968 he saved the lives of eight trapped Special Forces troops, in the course of which he was wounded nine times. Years later, after additional evidence of his bravery was reviewed, Benavidez's award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. This highest military award is traditionally presented by the President... But President Carter never got around to pinning the medal on Benavidez." There are different tales to be told because lives are different. Experiences are different, and the way people experience life is different. Anyone who denies that will never hear the whole story. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin