I am an Arab American serving in the USAF and I am being racially discriminated against, what do I do?

Question

The person discriminating against me outranks me, when I try to make a complaint against him I am threatened and mistreated.
I stayed quiet about the harassment, but now it increased to being physical. What can I do?

Answer 1

I am not sure what position this person is too you. If they are your first line supervisor then you have to go to the next level. Do not be intimidated by them to go higher. When I first entered the Army in 1990 I was dating a Black woman. and my SGT gave me a hard time. I did not report him at first cause I thought that he would cause trouble. one day someone saw it and repoted it for me. The 1SG was angry that I did not feel comfortable about reporting it.

Here are some thigns you can do, you should try in this order as to not break chain of command.
1. If this person is not your direct supervisor go to your supervisor first.
2. Go to the 1SG
3. Go to the CO.
4. Talk to you EEO (Equal Employment Officer) in your company or battalion.
5. Talk to the chaplin. Even if you are not religious they are there to help all soldiers.
6 Go to IG office.
7. Go to the Base HQ.
8. Write the Department of the USAF IG.

Answer 2

Im an Indian American and generally our races are enemies but
you are pretty great for putting up with that American pest.
Its sad you cannot use physical force on him. Im 13 and
in 8th grade Honors and this kid discriminated me for being Indian
and no one else said anything. Why? I beat up the first kid that
said something. Well now Im respected but I got it by force.
Hey if the guy is insulting you and using physical force then defend yourself. You should not tolerate it. And if you get in
trouble just tell them it was self defense. Maybe this is why
Bin Laden hates Americans so much. LOL. But I have not really
thought of a military career and I do not know how long it
takes for a service man to be put in higher rank but it may be your best option and if the guy is using serious physical force report him to the police or something. You need to take legal
action or self defence. You are awsome for still serving America
and fighting injustice. I would have probably quit my job by now
but you sure know hiw to control your temper.

Best wishes.

Answer 3

I am surprised and ashamed of those who answered that you should "just deal with it" as if you deserved this type of treatment. Anyone serving this country deserves the respect of the nation and their brothers in arms regardless of nationality. The most decorated unit in the U.S. Army in WWII was the all Japanese American 442nd Reg. combat team. Definately follow your chain of command and make formal complaints. This isn't just something you are doing for yourself , but on behalf of all who serve. Bigotry doesn't belong in the military. I would give serious consideration to dropping the Arab American designation for yourself. You are an American. No need for any prefixes. Good luck to you and thank you for serving our country.

Answer 4

I have just put your question to my husband who is a Senior Army Officer.He is incensed that you are having to deal with this. He says you must go straight to your Commanding Officer (assuming that this person is not your CO, which would be bloody appalling). If you need to go above that, do it. This person has duty of care and will be Court Martialled. He is a bully and none of the Services condone bullying. No Senior Officer would even consider standing back and allowing this to continue. Please act.

Answer 5

I think you should go AWOL, this Way they can throw your as s in the brig, then you will see what real discrimination is all about.

Don't you towel heads ever stop whining? Are you ever satisfied with what you have? Why do you think your fellow airmen should trust you? They must feel like they have the enemy right in their midst and can't do anything about it.

The terminology arab-American is a oxi-moron you can be one or the other, but you can't be both.

Answer 6

What is the person's rank? Go above his rank then and report him to his higherups. Plain and simple. Meanwhile make sure you dont do anything which could give em justification for discriminating against you.

Answer 7

Given the amount of damage Arab Americans have done to thier own troops, I'd say you should shut up and take it.
Maybe you'll gain enough trust one day for it to stop. But don't count on it.
The VAST majority of Americans don't trust arabs further than we can spit out a large rat.

Answer 8

Go First to your equal opportunity office and officer, if you can not,, try The office of commander on your base,or even Generals office, also try talking with IG(inspector General) office! If you can not go talk the a Jag Lawyer they can lead you right . Sorry you have to go through this.

Answer 9

Quit the job.People cant just forget 9/11 and lately 7/11 in India.

Answer 10

I'm a white american. Anyone serving our country deserves respect. Report it now and put a stop to it. Thanx for your service