
CSM Michelle Jones, first female command sergeant major of US Army Reserve (PD as work product of federal govt.)
An exceptional woman who once worked for me as a paralegal, had been in the Army before that. There is an Army saying that goes: It rains in the Army, but not on the Army. That means soldiers power through, whatever the obstacle. They move so fast, the raindrops don’t even touch them.
That fit my friend to a tee. Any organization would have been lucky to have her.
My friend shared with me that she had been the only black woman (often the first and only woman) in all the classes or programs she ever attended. She refused to declare her race on any form determining eligibility for affirmative action. Yet the assumption was always made that she could not have qualified on merit alone.
I worked for years in inner city Philadelphia, and still love the children I came to know there. Most of those children are black. All are still living in poverty. But children are not born with the knowledge they are supposed to be inferior. They have to be taught that. Continue reading