Have any of you Marines seen any racism in the Corps?

[Kelvin Quinonez]

What happens if someone reports racism?
Have you ever seen racism?

[GySgtRet]

In the 70's we had racism, not as rampant as people would make you think however. It is not so much as a group of Marines, but a few individuals. You always report problems like this through the...

[naclyknine]

Don't sweat it Quinonez. Marines take care of their own. If you get raged on for your race, take it up with your NCO/SNCOIC. It happens, it gets handled. It was not tolerated in my lash-up.

[Kelvin Quinonez]

Ok, do you think there is still some today?

[naclyknine]

Good advice GySgtRet. You don't want to play that card if there is any chance you are wrong.

[Kelvin Quinonez]

That's good to hear. That it's not tolerated. Like GySgtRet said,it's probably some few individuals right?

[naclyknine]

I've been out 20 years. I imagine there are isolated incidents, but like the Gunny said, it comes from individuals. They play that game and they WILL get squared away.

[naclyknine]

We had a little crap back in the 70's once. My SgtMaj gave a brief speech on the issue, while holding his "troop alignment tool" which was an ax handle painted red with white letters that said "troop alignment tool". He was a dark green Marine that was in when prejudice was common in the world. Everyone respected him completely. That crap went away most riki tik.

[arnoldyG/2/5]

Quinonez <br />
<br />
It is not something that is very common. However, like the Gunny said you better have your facts straight if you report something like this throught the chain of command. False charges...

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

Remember, you will be picked on regularly, no matter what your race happens to be. Yes, there are those that dislike people of other races in the Marine Corps... and that is just not white people. There are people of every race that has a problem with other races, and if it can be found in society it will be in the Corps as well. Just remember, it will not be tolerated, but neither will saying someone did something based on race when it wasn't.

[Kelvin Quinonez]

Thanks alot for the advice

[yellowwing]

As a Native American, I had never run into that problem. The crew I hung out with varied from California Hispanics to Jersey Italians. Everyone judged each other on how squared away we were and if we were doing our jobs. We'd compete and motivate each other from PT scores to the results of barrack's inspections.

To tell you the truth, those Command 'junk on the bunk' inspections were a real pain in the *ss. But then L/Cpl Jiminez said his boots would make mine look unsat, I'll show him how to work on a pair of boots!

During an Airshow, many Marines got assigned to be parking lot attendents for twelve hours. That really sucked. But then later at the E-Club, you could tell who was on that detail from the V shaped sunburn on their foreheads. We congregated and hung out with Marines we'd never really met before.

[cjwright90]

Remember, Kelvin, The corps does not see colors, but green. Dark green Marines, and Light green Marines. Take the gunny's and the others advice. Make darn sure of the facts before playing the card, and it will be handled correctly.

[HardJedi]

Ahh, Been gone a couple day's, so I missed getting in on this one at first, but I just HAVE to add my .02.

Yes, I served from 91-95 and I saw racism in the Corps. I am Caucasian, by the way. You have people from all over the country, from all backgrounds. You got the kids who grew up in the south with the rebel flag, got the Itialians from New York, Cubans, American indians, Heck, I even knew a few guy's from Africa that became citizens and joined.

I saw people get called every racial name there is at one time or another, sometimes out of anger, sometimes not. Either way, it was dealt with, withing the unit. Know what else? I knew one kid, and ADMITTED racist, and skin head, who, when the chips were down, helped his fellow Marines of ALL races and nationalities equally. The Marine Corps, while made up of all peoples, truly is a brotherhood that changes you. No, There is NO tolerance for racism, or sexual harasment in the Marine Corps, but it is still there. If it exists in a society, it iexhists in the Marines. That is just the way life is.

Heck, I knew one kid from this little town in GA who when I first met him was alway's mumbling things under his breath about non white people. Eventually his best man at his wedding was a Marine of African American decent.

I guess I am kind of rambling now aren't I? LOL

ANYWAY, there a jerks and idiots everywhere you go in this world, can't help that. Someone may make an off color or innapropriate remake to you, and they might even mean it. But if they are your fellow Marine, I would bet MY life that they would lay down THEIR life to protect you all the same.

( on a side and final note? Don't know if someone would consider this racist or not, but in boot camp, we had 22 guy's who's name ended in "ez". You know, like , Benitez, Juarez, Rodriguez, Martinez, ect. ect. The Senior DI, used to ask them if they all came over in the same low rider, and things like that., but I don't THIN any of them ever took it racially) Course, that's cause EVERYONE got picked on.

[MillRatUSMC]

There was individuals but that was taken care of.
When you need you six covered, you don't care what shade is back there or either flank.
I choose to focus on the postive instead of the negative.
For the few, there were many more that chose not to follow a path of hatred...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

[thedrifter]

I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE


(John 13:14-15)

"If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do." (John 13:14-15) "Surely, what I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not heaven.
Neither is it beyond the sea.
It is very near to you . . . in your mouth . . . in your heart."
(Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

Jesus commands us "to wash one another's feet" in other words he wants us to lead a life of loving service. Jesus saw alienation, ingratitude, betrayal, hatred, and prejudice all around him. He saw that the only way that humankind would learn to live in peace, to treat each other with love and respect, was for him to give us the example of service to each other by the washing of the feet.

Have things gotten better almost two thousand years after the death of Jesus? Is humankind living in peace and harmony? Are we treating each other with respect and love? The answer is a big, "NO!" There is still alienation, ingratitude, hatred, and prejudice. What legacy are we adults leaving to these younger than us? We keep passing on our hatreds, prejudices, and low self- esteem. There appears to be a general feeling among us of "you are not part of my group, race, kind and clique." Due to these distinctions, humankind is setting itself up for extinction. Today's mass media is full of fresh reminders of the ways humans brutalize each other, seeking a scapegoat for the miseries of life. They set us against each other instead of mobilizing us to overcome the forces which oppress and divide all of us.

We all need to keep in mind the words of the German Pastor Niemoller: "First they cam for the Jews and I did not speak our, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out, because I was not a communist . . . Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me." Niemoller could have added, with equal historical truth and even more current relevance, the following, "They came for the handicapped . . . Then they came for the homeless . . . Then they came for the old . . . Then they came for the unborn." What I have just described is not someone else's world. It's our world, the kind of world we keep making the kind of world we will leave behind. What is there to rescue us from our petty human distinctions of self and clan, of myself and my kind, except service to all to humbly kneel before each other, taking the other's bare foot in our hands, washing it with the clean, refreshing water of forgiveness, love, and mutual respect.

LT Gabriel Mensah, CHC, USNR


The Drifter's Wife


Ellie

[paul g fleming]

There are a few who complained about every thing regardless of color

[dep_baumy]

I always knew that race wouldnt be a big problem but if someone finds another Marine is a queer then what? (No btw im NOT gay) So do Marines rag on another Marine if hes queer or do you look past the fact that hes a rectum raider?

[HardJedi]

Lord, Dep!

First off, I don't know about NOW, but in my time, even bieng suspected of bieng homosexual was likley to get somebody beat up pretty good. I PERSONALLY think people should just mind thier own frickin business. I do not personally approve of the homosexual lifestyle, but don't feel that someones sexual preference should get them put in the hospital either. Heck, I don't care for most religious people of ANY type, does that give me the right to rag on them or beat them up? no.

[DSchmitke]

The only race in the Corps is Marine Corps Green. that's it....

[usmc4669]

I have read all of the replies, some good and some pure Bull Sh*t. Are there racism in the Marine Corps? You da*n right there is. Then it comes from both sides. I have seen whites who were prejudice against blacks, Latinos and Jews, blacks prejudice against Latinos, Jews and whites, Latinos prejudice against, blacks, whites,Jews and Italians. Name calling from both sides, Nigg*r's, Spi*k's, Wops, Wet-Backs, Coons, night fighters, Kike, Jew, a-rabs, rag tops, slant eyes,tojo, chink, tonto, injun, to name a few. Now sometimes name calling was in a nature not to insult the other race and it would be tolerated. Take one of our Black Marines in a discussion with his black brothers, he could call one on them a nigg*n and they would laugh, then let a white, Latino or Jewish Marine call one of them a nigg*r it would upset them. This is the way that things were with the races and still is. some would use prejudice to get out of a detail that they didn't want to do, other would use it to get back at a NCO that they didn't like. If you plan to join the Marines then leave any prejudice behind, like someone else already said Marines are dark Green, so don't be color blind when you become one of the Few, The proud The Marines.