Below is the former Commandant’s letter:

A Letter to America

* Published on June 3, 2020

Robert B. Neller

General USMC Retired

1 article Following

“Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; so on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.”  

-Henry Longfellow

As a white American, a baby boomer child of the 60’s and a veteran of 44 years of service as a US Marine I felt both frustration, anger and great sorrow as I watched the video of the killing of George Floyd by a group of police officers in Minneapolis.  I cannot get out my mind the lack of emotion on the faces of the officers as Mr. Floyd said repeatedly, “I can’t breathe.”  And all this transpiring while others called out for the officers to let him up, though none physically intervened.   At the same time, it is with some understanding but again sadness I watch the destruction of neighborhoods in our Nation as demonstrators, most local citizens, but including some professional agitators, express their anger and frustration over another killing of a black man by police that, to the great majority of Americans it was clear, did not have to die. At the same time some violate the law by attacking police, looting and burning businesses in their communities, many of which are unlikely to return or rebuild. You are justifiably angry.

So, what do we do now? …. Continue as we have like Longfellow’s two ships in the night?  Wait for the rage to pass, as eventually it will, and then go back to whatever normal is in our COVID world of today?  Do we as white Americans just take comfort in our own view that “I am not a racist and I raised my children to judge people by the color of their heart and character and not the color of their skin, their religion or their sexual preference? ” In other words, like most Americans of all races/ethnicity, remain supportive of the intent of the demonstrations, but also remain publicly, silent taking  comfort in our own actions to be a man or woman of virtue, equality and character and hope and pray that over time things will get better?

I am sure that today this is not enough.

The time for being silent has passed, at least for me.

I have many friends in the law enforcement profession and have interacted personally and professionally with many Police Officers and emergency responders, a great number of whom are military veterans. They have an incredibly difficult job dealing with in many cases people who have broken the law, are under the influence of substances, who are abusive of or threaten them, all while they have to remain calm, disciplined and measured in their response. Like our forces in the combat, young men and women, who are trained well,  but over time get tired and worn down, every day facing life threatening situations, sometimes at personal risk to their safety and of those with them, the great majority of police get it right the great majority of the time. But we demand, unrealistically, they get it right every time…. Sadly, history and reality tell us “they will not.”

We can train and re-train over and over, and though we must continually review how law enforcement train and assess its effectiveness, but humans are human.  And because we are human we bring our personal prejudices with us in our life, both personally and professional.

Nevertheless,