The Senate is expected to confirm U.S. Marine Corps, Lt. Gen. Michael Langley as the Marines' first Black four-star general. Lt. Gen. Michael Langley has been a commander at every level in the Marines and been deployed to various countries including Japan and Afghanistan. As of last year, he was one of only six Black generals in the Marine Corps, the Stars and Stripes military newspaper reported, calling Langley “a statistical outlier in the Corps and the military more broadly, where minorities have long been underrepresented in the senior ranks.”
As it turns out, Republican legislators are actively pursuing efforts to end programs seeking to root out extremism and white supremacy in the U.S. armed forces.
RELATED STORY: DOD addresses growing extremism in the military, but new investigation raises more questions
Daily Kos reported last year that Black service members were disproportionately investigated, court-martialed, and convicted, being punished at a rate five times that of other races of Marine Corps members. Yet there were no funds targeted to fighting systemic racism, no hate crime category to tack on more punitive measures for race-based assaults, and no ban preventing service members from being part of extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Proud Boys.
Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin tweeted last February that he directed all commanding officers and supervisors to conduct a one-day "stand-down" on extremism in the military.
Since that time, the Senate Armed Services Committee has asked the Defense Department to stop programs to end extremism in the armed forces, Stars and Stripes reported, citing a report the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act made public last Monday.
“The committee believes that the vast majority of service members serve with honor and distinction, and that the narrative surrounding systemic extremism in the military besmirches the men and women in uniform,” legislators stated in the report. “The committee believes that when extremist activity does in fact occur that it must be dealt with swiftly and appropriately; however, the case incident rate does not warrant a Department-wide effort on the issue.”
Bill Braniff, a U.S. Army veteran and director of the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, asked Stars and Stripes who is going to join the military if it's not responsible for policing extremism in its own ranks. “What is the impact on morale, good order, and discipline, and ultimately combat effectiveness,” Braniff asked, “if the men and women in our incredibly diverse and all-volunteer military believe that the Department of Defense doesn’t have their backs when it comes to white supremacy, support for jihadism, misogynist extremism, or anti-LGBTQ+ extremism.”
Langley told Stars and Stripes he grew up on diverse Air Force bases until his father retired in the early 1970s as a master sergeant. When that happened, the family moved to west Fort Worth, Texas, where they were the only Black family.
“At that time, we were taking it from all sides,” Langley told Stars and Stripes. “The Blacks didn’t like us because we lived out in a white neighborhood. And the whites considered us different and wondered why we were there.”
Langley told Stars and Stripes the military is “evolving” with regard to racial issues. “Ninety-nine percent of my experiences coming up through the ranks have been positive ones that can be characterized as opportunities to excel, to gain success,” he said. “As far as adversity, it came in moments. They were always learning experiences to me.”
Langley testified during his confirmation hearing on Thursday for the Senate Armed Services Committee that he was thankful for President Joe Biden’s nomination, and Langley saved a portion of his speech to honor his sisters, stepmother, and father Willie Langley, who served in the Air Force for 25 years.
“My family (who) is a personal example in continual encouragement, have been a constant source of strength for me,” Langley said. “Without their support, I would not be here today."
Langley was nominated to the U.S. Africa Command, which is based in Stuttgart, Germany, and reported to be “a high-profile and difficult assignment with the threat of resurgent terrorism organizations and insidious activities by adversaries China and Russia,” according to Dallas Morning News writer Joseph Morton.
Langley testified that with the U.S. Africa Command, he will “continue to address the dual challenges of strategic competition and violent extremism.”
"The global security environment we're witnessing today is the most challenging I've seen throughout my 37 years,” Langley said. “The 53 nations within U.S. AFRICOM area of responsibility are not immune from the systemic effects of ongoing tensions, and there are many additional trans-regional struggles unique to the continent. These challenges cannot be solved by military power alone.”
Langley promised to work with global stakeholders and civilian aid agencies and partner globally to address challenges presented by expanding terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).
When asked about a concern that the United States is shifting its focus from terrorism to challenges in Ukraine and China, Langley said we should be focusing on the metastasizing spread of violent extremism in Africa. “It is more of a problem today,” he said.
Watch Langley’s words to legislators, starting about 14 minutes into the below video:
YouTube Video
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As it turns out, Republican legislators are actively pursuing efforts to end programs seeking to root out extremism and white supremacy in the U.S. armed forces.
RELATED STORY: DOD addresses growing extremism in the military, but new investigation raises more questions
Daily Kos reported last year that Black service members were disproportionately investigated, court-martialed, and convicted, being punished at a rate five times that of other races of Marine Corps members. Yet there were no funds targeted to fighting systemic racism, no hate crime category to tack on more punitive measures for race-based assaults, and no ban preventing service members from being part of extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Proud Boys.
Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin tweeted last February that he directed all commanding officers and supervisors to conduct a one-day "stand-down" on extremism in the military.
Since that time, the Senate Armed Services Committee has asked the Defense Department to stop programs to end extremism in the armed forces, Stars and Stripes reported, citing a report the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act made public last Monday.
“The committee believes that the vast majority of service members serve with honor and distinction, and that the narrative surrounding systemic extremism in the military besmirches the men and women in uniform,” legislators stated in the report. “The committee believes that when extremist activity does in fact occur that it must be dealt with swiftly and appropriately; however, the case incident rate does not warrant a Department-wide effort on the issue.”
Bill Braniff, a U.S. Army veteran and director of the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, asked Stars and Stripes who is going to join the military if it's not responsible for policing extremism in its own ranks. “What is the impact on morale, good order, and discipline, and ultimately combat effectiveness,” Braniff asked, “if the men and women in our incredibly diverse and all-volunteer military believe that the Department of Defense doesn’t have their backs when it comes to white supremacy, support for jihadism, misogynist extremism, or anti-LGBTQ+ extremism.”
Langley told Stars and Stripes he grew up on diverse Air Force bases until his father retired in the early 1970s as a master sergeant. When that happened, the family moved to west Fort Worth, Texas, where they were the only Black family.
“At that time, we were taking it from all sides,” Langley told Stars and Stripes. “The Blacks didn’t like us because we lived out in a white neighborhood. And the whites considered us different and wondered why we were there.”
Langley told Stars and Stripes the military is “evolving” with regard to racial issues. “Ninety-nine percent of my experiences coming up through the ranks have been positive ones that can be characterized as opportunities to excel, to gain success,” he said. “As far as adversity, it came in moments. They were always learning experiences to me.”
Langley testified during his confirmation hearing on Thursday for the Senate Armed Services Committee that he was thankful for President Joe Biden’s nomination, and Langley saved a portion of his speech to honor his sisters, stepmother, and father Willie Langley, who served in the Air Force for 25 years.
“My family (who) is a personal example in continual encouragement, have been a constant source of strength for me,” Langley said. “Without their support, I would not be here today."
Langley was nominated to the U.S. Africa Command, which is based in Stuttgart, Germany, and reported to be “a high-profile and difficult assignment with the threat of resurgent terrorism organizations and insidious activities by adversaries China and Russia,” according to Dallas Morning News writer Joseph Morton.
Langley testified that with the U.S. Africa Command, he will “continue to address the dual challenges of strategic competition and violent extremism.”
"The global security environment we're witnessing today is the most challenging I've seen throughout my 37 years,” Langley said. “The 53 nations within U.S. AFRICOM area of responsibility are not immune from the systemic effects of ongoing tensions, and there are many additional trans-regional struggles unique to the continent. These challenges cannot be solved by military power alone.”
Langley promised to work with global stakeholders and civilian aid agencies and partner globally to address challenges presented by expanding terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).
When asked about a concern that the United States is shifting its focus from terrorism to challenges in Ukraine and China, Langley said we should be focusing on the metastasizing spread of violent extremism in Africa. “It is more of a problem today,” he said.
Watch Langley’s words to legislators, starting about 14 minutes into the below video:
YouTube Video
Want to fight voter suppression? Sign up to volunteer as a poll worker this November with Power the Polls, and they will get you connected.