Today I was reading the blog Jezebel when I came across a story about Private First Class LaVena Johnson, who, three years ago was obviously brutally murdered, possibly to cover up her rape, and yet the military sent her mutilated body to her family and told them it was a suicide when common sense could tell you other wise. Her father has been fighting all these years to get her case investigated and he's been getting nowhere.

Needless to say, reading the post I was upset. Upset at the fact that this was the first time I'd heard anything about this case, whereas there is news all over about Megan Lynn Touma who was pregnant and found dead in her bathtub. The big difference here is that Megan is white and LaVena is black.

I was upset, though not surprised, that our military would rather cover up a soldier's death than make themselves look bad and that the had the audacity to think Private Johnson's family wouldn't know the difference between a suicide and a murder, going as far as to expect them to believe that their daughter would pour acid on her genitals and burn her hand and then glue white gloves to them before she put her M-16 in her left hand, not her right hand which was her dominant, and somehow still be able to pull the trigger. It's beyond insulting it's grotesque.

And I am upset that the only thing I could do in this instance is to write a letter to my Missouri Senator, Claire McCaskill, urging her to contact the Armed Services committee to actually look into Private Johnson's death and not just pay it lip service.

That's it. That's all I did. Write a fucking letter. I don't like feeling helpless but it seems that for the last eight years things have gotten steadily worse and all I can do is write letters of protest. Sometimes I'm able to donate money (or withhold it) but it's like tossing a pebble into the sea, there are ripples but they don't really affect anything. This is a woman who's really no different than me, aside from the paths in life we took, who is from my home state, who is being thrown under the bus by the very country she signed up to serve. Aside from blogs (thank Gawd we have those) it seems no on in the MSM gives a shit. She is disposable because she is a woman, and even more so because she is black and no one deserves to be treated in such a heinous fashion.

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July 10, 2008 1:34 PM

[0+|0-]  Ann said:

Thanks for the reminder that her case is ongoing, UltraMagnus. Vanessa wrote about it last year, but we've been remiss in not following up.

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July 18, 2008 12:36 AM

[0+|0-]  Rinita said:

First off, good for you for writing that letter. Secondly, you did more than just write a letter. You educated feministing readers, like me for example. Knowledge is power. As far as this story goes, I am disgusted beyond words by this type of behavior by our army that is supposed to PROTECT people.

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