At a town hall event on Sunday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke about the importance of DEI.
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00:00Hello, thank you for coming to Tucson. Really appreciate all you guys taking the time.
00:04My name is George Beverly, Jr.
00:06Hey, George, could you step out of the shadows? I can't.
00:09I mean, if I had that much hair, I'd want people to see it.
00:14They call me black man, that's all.
00:17No, my name is George Beverly, Jr.
00:21I'm a medically retired veteran, 17 and a half years in the military.
00:30There's three things I want to talk about.
00:32One is DEI, the second one is the VA, and the third one is immigration.
00:38All this happened during my time in the service, and I love America.
00:44I grew up in Louisiana when David Duke ran for the governor.
00:48So racism plays a huge part in my life.
00:53The military was great, but as a veteran, it's not so great.
00:57I live in silence. I suffer in silence.
01:01It takes me every fiber of my being to get out of my house.
01:07I was in an IED explosion. I lost seven soldiers.
01:10I almost died April 29, 2004.
01:15We were the first unit to get extended.
01:18And why am I saying that?
01:19I'm saying that because I have a TBI. I have PTSD.
01:22Not only do I have military trauma, but I have racial trauma.
01:30So if I go to the VA, a white doctor won't understand the pain that I'm going through.
01:36How do I know this?
01:37Because Donald Trump is telling them that DEI is just a figment of people's imagination.
01:44But color matters.
01:46Your culture matters.
01:48It is who you are.
01:56So I'm seeking help for the VA, and I have not been able to seek help.
02:01Because I don't feel comfortable talking to a white psychiatrist.
02:03Because it doesn't do much.
02:05They can't empathize or sympathize, but they don't know what I go through.
02:09They don't walk in my shoes.
02:10I have a mixed family.
02:12My wife, my beautiful wife, she's half Mexican and Norwegian.
02:16And so we have an array of families.
02:21So let me get to my point about the VA.
02:23The VA, I have family members who work for the VA and scared to death.
02:29Veteran.
02:31Major.
02:32She was a major.
02:33Working for the department of the VA.
02:35And she cannot fathom what she needs to do in order to keep her life going.
02:41And guess what?
02:41She hasn't even claimed her benefits yet.
02:43Now he's cutting people back from the benefits.
02:50And we have people that are suffering right now who can't get any medical help because the VAs, they haven't been approved.
02:58I'll move on to immigration.
02:59And that'll be my last thing.
03:00And I appreciate your time for allowing me to speak.
03:02Immigration.
03:03I, the second time my unit deployed, I was rear detachment commander.
03:07And I had a soldier.
03:09He was in my section.
03:10And his name was Specialist Mendoza.
03:13And a lot of people may not know this, but if you are a green card holder or a permanent resident, you can join the military and gain your citizenship.
03:22But guess what happened to him?
03:24It was at the end of his four years and he said, Sergeant Beverly, I'm afraid.
03:29I'm about to get out of the Army and I don't have my citizenship.
03:33So I had to go to Luxembourg to the consulate to help this man get his citizenship.
03:39I don't know the details of it.
03:41But we can't just talk about immigration within our walls, but we have to talk about immigration within our military.
03:49He's trying to get rid of the LBGT community.
03:51He's trying to get rid of black people in the military.
03:55So DEI is important.
03:58The VA is important.
04:00And immigration is important.
04:01So I thank you for your time.
04:04So I just consulted.
04:07I stay right there because I just consulted with my senator colleague.
04:10I'm going to take the DEI question.
04:12He's going to take one and the congressman is going to take one of the others, VA and immigration.
04:17So I'm going to go really quickly because my goal with the three of them is to be a really good answer, but also a short answer so we can get to other questions.
04:24Let me just say this really quick.
04:28Diversity, equity, and inclusion.
04:30I never thought in my life I would be arguing about those three words being important American values.
04:36And never did I think that I would see a nation where a president would on one hand brag about merit and then hire some of the most unqualified people that have ever held the offices that are there.
04:50Often, as we've seen in the military, firing people that are diverse.
04:57So I want to be very clear with you.
05:00Our history matters.
05:02And what this president is trying to do, which is trying to homogenize, Disney-ify, whitewash, erase our history, cheapens the American story and the strength of who we are.
05:15We have a great history in our country, not despite all the wretchedness and discrimination.
05:25We have a great history because we've overcome that and have done such a strong job in doing it.
05:30And so to take people like Jackie Robinson off of the military's website is such an insult to all Americans, to our history, and weakens and undermines who we are.
05:42So I want you to know that this is what we stand for.
05:46This is what we fight for.
05:48And when it comes to having the kind of mental health care that you deserve, having somebody that is culturally appropriate that understands that is something that the psychological profession knows and understands clearly.
05:59What you're asking for is not outrageous.
06:02And so I am grateful to tell you right now we must reclaim our history from those who want to try to erase it.
06:09We must stop people that are banning books from libraries, that are changing our history, and that are undermining the truth of America is that we are in a phenomenal team.
06:24And we need to make sure that we bring more of the great team, Team America, onto the field to participate, play, so that we can put points on the board for our country.
07:02Service members, folks who had served this country, and now they've been kicked out of our country.
07:09It's wrong, and we're fighting back.
07:11The only thing I'll add to that is, George, first I'll thank you for your service, of course, and in addition to what the senator just said about Jackie Robinson in Arizona,
07:22it has been so offensive that the Defense Department took down from their website the pages about the Navajo Coat Talkers and Ira Hayes and Lori Piestewa and our Native American warriors that have fought so bravely for this country.
07:40And as you have pointed out, what they're doing to try to kick out diverse members of our military, our trans women and men who are fighting for the military, willing to risk their lives for our fellow Americans, deserve to stay in the military.
07:57And on the immigration issue, as Senator Kelly just said, it is so frustrating that our Republican friends want to talk about border security.
08:11And we all agree there needs to be appropriate border security, but there also needs to be pathways for people to come to the United States so we can grow our economy and have the strongest economy on planet Earth.
08:22But the other side has gone so far anti-immigrant that they won't even fight so that we can ensure that our people who have served us in the military, risk their lives, have a chance to stay and have a path to citizenship here in the United States.
08:39In fact, they vote against every possible new – the only pathway that's been proposed, as I can tell, is the gold card by Trump, which he wants – if you pay $5 million, you get a pathway.
08:51Anyway, it is totally self-defeating that we have allowed ourselves to be so far one way that these Republicans won't even have any policies that will move us in a stronger economic direction for our country.
09:02George, thank you for your service.