Journal 4
When I was nineteen, I was serving in the United States Army. I had already been in for about two years, and I had been mentored. My mentor felt that I had gained enough experience and leadership guidance to be promoted. I was recommended to go before the board of promotion and was selected to proceed. In the promotion board sits a panel of five high ranking service members. The service members’ job is to ask questions and deliver a verdict on if you are ready for a promotion and take on a leadership role. They ask you a series of trivial questions about the Army and leadership and how they covary.
When it was my turn to appear before the board members’ panel, I was immediately asked my age. I told them my age said almost simultaneously, faces soured. One of them even asked me if I thought I was a little too young to be a sergeant. Then shortly after that, they told me to leave while they come to a decision. They called me to reappear before the panel to tell me that I was entirely too young to become a leader. That there was no way that they were going to allow a teenager to led soldiers. I felt that my age hindered me from being seen with experience and knowledge. I felt like I was an outsider because the board members already had reservations from the very first question that I was asked. I felt that I was faced with the denial of agency and the denial of experience. I felt denied of my agency because the board members saw my age and assumed that I could not lead soldiers.
On August 14, 1942, in Houston, Texas, A young man named Calvin Leon Graham enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of eleven. Young Graham foraged his mother’s signature and joined the fight in World War II. Yes, he was barely a teenager. Graham was awarded the bronze medal and the Purple Heart for his bravery during an attack on the USS South Dakota. During the attack, Graham was hit with the shrapnel to his face resulting from Japanese enemies. The damage to his face ripped threw his jaw and knocked him down three stories. Despite his injuries and age, he was able to continue to save lives and helping his Comrades to safety (Serena)
I felt that I also was being denied my experience due to my age. It’s usually uncommon for soldiers to join at the age of seventeen. It is more common for high school graduates between the ages of eighteen and nineteen to enlist into the Army. The board members did not know the age I enlisted or that I had already been in the Army over two years. My mentor mentored me in the way that I would gain experience that I needed to become a leader. My mentor felt that I was ready, and I had enough experience, which showed leadership abilities capable of promotion. Marsai Martin, at fourteen, is the youngest executive producer in Hollywood. Debut in 2019, the box office hit “Little” won Marsai over five awards and nominee, including a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) image award. (IMDb). Despite Marsai Martins’s young age, that didn’t stop her from making history by accomplishing and directing a movie.
I worked as an emergency medical technician (EMT) in Houston, Texas, before Attending Howard. My partner and I were answering a 911 call in a predominately white neighborhood. When we both stepped into the home, we were called. Where we then discovered an elderly lady in the form of distress. The woman appeared to be in dire need of help and unable to communicate. However, when her daughter saw that we were two African-Americans, she immediately gasped as if she saw a ghost.
She said that they were fine and that her mother did not need any help. We tried to reason with the woman and stress the importance that she called us, and it is clear her mother required emergency medical attention. She then says she does not need n-words in her house or helping her mother with anything. I couldn’t believe it even though the woman’s mother was dying right before all our eyes, and the woman still nested hate in her heart to be a racist. She chose not to accept the help for her own mother because of the color of our skin.
I felt that The color of my skin was a denial of agency. Even though I have been a licensed emergency medical technician state and nationally with experience in my field that did not seem to matter, I was still discriminated against because I was black. African-Americans were enslaved for over400 years before being set free. Their denial of agency and experience occurred when they were treated less than equal.
A few days later now elected President Donald Trump signed an executive order with plans to expand and modify the United States immigration enforcement and detention centers. This includes strategies and funding for the wall that was to be built around Mexico. Many families were affected by this evil order and torn apart. Mothers and children separated; fathers transported to different detention centers never to being reunited with their loved ones. I understand that they have broken the law by coming into the United States illegally to a better life. However, at the end of the day, they still are human beings.
These are innocent people; they’re not animals. They haven’t done severe crimes, and I think it is unethical to be locked away in cages like animals. America has always been seen as the promised land people from different countries facing hardship the first or a better life is to migrate to America. America is the land of the free home of the brave, yet children and mothers are starving in cold cages. Just this week, there was a whistleblower complaint about hysterectomies and medical neglect being performed amongst those detention centers. Now, not only are they treating them inhumane, they’re trying to prevent them from reproducing. Electing officials deny immigrants of experience. People come from different countries and perform the job the Americans think they’re too good to work. All the jobs that don’t require machinery to perform tasks. Jobs like crop work, manual labor, electricians, painting, fencing, and fieldwork for little to nothing. Yet, these so-called terrible immigrants contribute heavily to America.Those innocent lives I think about every day being locked up in the detention centers. I can help those to use my voice and vote in this upcoming presidential election.
A group that I identify with being associated with is a church called From the Heart Ministries. When people willingly come to the church and get saved, I believe it contributes to a thoughtful selection of those who join the church. To become a member, you must take a membership and leadership classes. A shared sense of admission will be everybody coming together to live a more righteous life and serve as a disciple for the Lord. As the ministry, I don’t think as being on an open exchange of opinions and ideas to the best strategy because there are people in leadership positions in the church. People such as well the pastor, deacons, and bishops who amongst themselves discuss issues that arise in the church; it is rare to discuss such problems with the congregation. The church fully supports one another by supporting the mission and being an obedient servant for the Lord. The one and only goal is to make it to heaven, and the church fully supports each member. The church has a division of labor according to age separated by children’s church, the youth church, the young adults, the Elders, and the rest of the church. If you were raised in the church, you might have gone through most of the different groups. Each church has a specific division within the church that all comes together to play a significant role. The church constructively criticizes one another when they fall short of his glory. Confessing with your mouth that Jesus Lord is taking the oath to mark your faith journey’s seriousness and understanding and committing to living a righteous life.
I would strip all leadership positions to make everyone equal expect the pastor. This way, everyone would feel more comfortable with one another, and young children would not feel intimated by those in leadership roles. I would be more active in the church by attending bible study and activities hosted by the church on the weekends. I would make my face known throughout the church, in hopes of being a minister to the youth of the church, giving tips on everyday life. I would use the knowledge I have now that I did not have when I was young to help others. Ministering and volunteering my time was a youth teacher — contributing money to help the church with events planned to help you become a better Christian.
When I watched by Spike Lee’s modern rendition of Lysistrata, “Chi-Raq,”. The play correlated with the movie because of the war between the Trojans and Sparta was similar to the Polynesian war. The gang members in Chiraq were at war and the woman was tired of the senseless killing of young children by stray bullet. The main character, Lysistrata brought together hundreds of women and took hostage men of the national guard in the armory. The woman teamed up with Lysistrata and denied all men of any sexual intercourse. She brought the parties involved, the Trojans and the Spartans to show them examples of why they should stop the war. She also reminded them as to why they should be Allies not enemies. It took some time and it took some effort but eventually, Lysistrata it was able to make amends and end up getting all of her all of her requests were granted.
IMDb. “Little.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 2019, m.imdb.com/title/tt8085790/awards?ref_=m_tt_awd.
Serena, Katie. “America’s Youngest WWII Vet Was 11 Years Old And Was Awarded A Bronze Star And Purple Heart At 13.” All That’s Interesting, All That’s Interesting, 23 July 2018, allthatsinteresting.com/calvin-graham.
