When President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday, he suggested that race ceases to matter to those who serve in the armed forces. "When you put on that uniform, it doesn't matter if you're black or white; Asian or Latino; conservative or liberal; rich or poor; gay or straight," he said. "When you're marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails. When you're in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one nation, leaving no one behind."
But tell that to the families of Private Danny Chen of New York City and Lance Corporal Harry Lew, 21, of Santa Clara, Calif., and you're likely to hear a very different point of view. Both Chen, 19, and Lew committed suicide after fellow soldiers bullied them. White soldiers reportedly taunted Chen repeatedly with racial slurs such as "gook," "chink" and "dragon lady." Chen wrote to family members that, "They ask if I'm from China a few times a day. They also called out my name, 'Chen,' in a goat-like voice sometimes for no reason." Moreover, the New York Times reports that after Chen neglected to turn a water heater off one night, soldiers dragged him out of bed and threw rocks at him.
Lew was reportedly kicked and slapped after falling asleep on guard duty. One soldier reportedly poured sand in his face. It's unclear if Lew's ethnicity factored into his bullying, but Asian-Americans such as writer Jeff Yang certainly think race contributed.
Because both Chen and Lew served in Afghanistan, far away from loved ones, they had no respite from the barrage of abuse. Add in the fact that they were young adults, an age where fitting in is still ever so important, and it's not difficult to see how endless race-based bullying would drive them to suicide.
Before fatally shooting himself last April, Lew left a suicide message on his forearm: "May hate me now, but in the long run this was the right choice." Chen also thought suicide was the right choice, killing himself last October in a guard tower. Three Marines were criminally charged with hazing after Lew's death. Eight soldiers have been charged with a variety of crimes in relation to Chen's death, including negligent homicide and assault. To the Chen family's dismay, however, a military investigator has recommended that a charge of involuntary manslaughter not be pursued against the soldiers.
An involuntary manslaughter conviction could result in imprisonment for 10 years and a dishonorable discharge. It would certainly send a strong message to any other soldier involved in race-based bullying or who would entertain the thought of doing so. But punishing the soldiers who bullied Lew and Chen to death is far from all the military can do. Racial sensitivity and diversity training is key. The military already prohibits hazing, as the incidents involving Lew and Chen have been described, but it needs to stress that race-based harassment will result in grave consequences.
Asian Americans are among the most celebrated war heroes in U.S. history. Anyone who would suggest that someone of Asian heritage doesn't belong in the American armed forces is not only bigoted but also ignorant of the past contributions Asian Americans have made to the country in battle. By stressing a zero tolerance policy for race-based harassment and offering crash course to soldiers in the sacrifices Asian Americans and others of color have made on the frontlines, maybe the military can one day be the place that Obama described in his State of the Union address.
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