Janetra Johnson - Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: A Military Veterans Story to Healing

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

A MILITARY VETERAN'S STORY TO HEALING

By Janetra Johnson

Table of Contents

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Janetra Johnson, Fresno California

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2018 Janetra Johnson

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A book based on the real-life court case: Johnson v. Departments of the Army and Air Force et al

A MILITARY VETERAN'S STORY TO HEALING

One group that has received little attention in the psychological literature, with regards to issues of race as related to the practice of psychology, is the United States (U.S.) military. The military is a unique cultural entity that most people think provide soldiers of African descent with the system and resources they need to serve in the U.S. military.

African-Americans have fought for the United States throughout its history, from World War II to the Afghanistan W ar. Defending and serving a country that in turn denied them their fundamental rights to a remedy for discrimination and racism. In Chappell v. Wallace , the U.S. Supreme Court made a judicial interpretation that deprived African American soldiers altogether of a remedy for discrimination. The Supreme Court's Jim Crow era decision in Feres v. United States , assures the availability of compensation, under the Veterans ' Benefits Act . But, the U.S. federal courts dont always verify payment before deciding in favor of its internal military Feres doctrine.

This book is written from the perspective of a military veteran of African descent, who have experienced Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (P.T.S.S) and has managed to experience a significant reduction of these symptoms over the years.

The absolute absence of any U.S. military veterans book discussing soldiers of African descent, whose service incited dreadful thoughts of slavery and the Jim Crow era, which are not compensable under the Veterans' Benefits Act, played a significant factor in my decision to get this book out there for military veterans to read. If you are an Afro-American soldier, I hope this book helps you during your service in the United States military. Its my ultimate goal to encourage military veterans who experienced a financial crisis and suffer from thoughts of slavery and the Jim Crow era to seek wellness and healing!

Testimonies from black veterans say World War II was a war on three fronts; there was the European and Pacific theaters of operations, and for the black soldier there was a third front, and that was the Jim Crow theater of operation . If you are a black soldier in the U.S. military, you probably know about this invisible war of operation . I found myself right in the middle of a struggle or financial calamity in the California military . It felt like I was fighting in the Jim Crow theater of operation. The California National Guards financial calamity was the largest ever in any U.S. state and was covered by California news agencies like The Sacramento Bee, NBC Bay Area and the Los Angeles Times. I was a military soldier at the time this financial crisis was rampant in the California military and when the Jim Crow theater of operation came to mind .

Being in the military in and of itself can create extreme emotional distress, and the added stressor a soldier faces because of their dark skin can lead to psychological and physical injuries that are not seen and compensable . I was pregnant at the time I started to experience Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (P.T.S.S.) . I was serving in the California National Guard when I had those dreadful thoughts of slavery and the Jim Crow era, with fears of a miscarriage. I had feared my unborn child and me was being deprived financially. It was a terrifying and lonely feeling I had back then.

There was not a lot of outside help for soldiers and veterans during the California National Guards financial crisis, and traditional avenues to resolve discrimination and whistleblower complaints werent available. I argued in U.S. federal court that the U.S. National Guard, an agency within the U.S. Defense Department has never been through an audit and it was evaluating and paying black soldiers less than white soldiers throughout the war in Afghanistan. I blew the whistle on the California National Guards flawed performance evaluation policy and all white leadership. White employees held all of the management positions and black employees were hired to work in low paying support positions. See here

When I say slavery and the Jim Crow era Im referring to my experiences in the California National Guard . I had conjured up scenes in my head of the colonial times when African Americans first came to America by force in 1640, and the 1950s Jim Crow segregation period. I didnt exist then but I knew African slaves did and I am a descendant of U.S. slavery. I did some math before I filed my federal lawsuit against the California National Guard.

Between the colonial period, Afro-Americans arrived in the United States and the time I discovered the U.S. National Guards flawed performance evaluation policy in 2009 ( 1640 2009 ), was 369 years. Thats an insane number of years to imagine a time period unrecorded by the Defense Department. In 2009, I felt nobody was going to believe me or care that it not written down anywhere or included in any legal or financial record that the United States Defense Department has never been through an audit .

World War II was supposed to the turning point in which segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces ended. But, the flawed performance evaluation policy I discovered online made me doubt myself. Did segregation in the Armed Forces really end? I fought long and hard to get the California National Guards performance evaluation policy reviewed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . The appeals court declined to review the policy, because compensation for Title VII violations is available under the Veterans Benefits Act, Jackson v. United States. The California National Guard removed its flawed performance evaluation policy in 2009, without disclosing its misstatements or publicly acknowledging the financial error. In Jackson, it was undisputed that his case was decided on the existence and receipt of veteran medical and compensation benefits supported by the application of the military Feres doctrine . However, the U.S. Federal courts didnt verify if I was receiving payments before it dismissed my complaint.

In this book, I use P.T.S.S. to connect a U.S. military veteran of African descent to the World War II, Jim Crow theater of operation and slavery in the present day. Dr. Joy DeGruys theory is about people of African descent experiencing generations of psychological and physical trauma, with no point of intervention. During World War II, the invisible Jim Crow theater of operation was an ongoing military conflict that black soldiers hoped had an ending or turning point.

James G. Thompson, a 26-year-old from Wichita, served in the U.S Army during World War II . He drafted a letter to the editors of the Nations largest black-owned newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier, Thompson wrote:

"Being an American of dark complexion and some 26 years, these questions flash through my mind: Should I sacrifice my life to live half American? Will things be better for the next generation in the peace to follow?Is the kind of America I know worth defending?"