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Discrepancies emerge in case of murdered black gay sailor

post #1 of 18
7/15/09 at 11:14am
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More details to suggest the United States Navy is not forthcoming in the case of Seaman August Provost III, the black gay sailor found brutally murdered at Camp Pendleton on June 30th. The family offers a very disturbing timeline, saying the military did not tell them this was a homicide and neglected to reveal the manner of death.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, who represents Houston and Provost's family, tells the Houston Chronicle: "I am requesting a full investigation into the murder. This death appears bizarre, and more facts need to be uncovered."

Provost's mother, Melanie Provost, said Sunday the military originally told her simply that her son had been found unconscious in the guard shack and later died. "The only way I found out my son had been shot and burned was on TV," she said. Her son had mentioned to her before he died that he was being harassed by some fellow sailors, but he handled it stoically, she said.

Jackson Lee said the incident should lead the military to be less tolerant of similar harassment. "If he was being harassed, why was the bad behavior being covered up? Why was the person still there?" Jackson Lee said. The congresswoman would like to see the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward gay service members lifted, but says other changes are needed to prevent discrimination of all kinds. Family members say that policy played a part in Provost's poor treatment in the Navy, however.

"Because of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' he couldn't say anything," said his niece, Keonna Johnson-Jones. "He couldn't go to his superiors."

Provost was shot three times, apparently gagged and bound, and his body burned.

Provost told his family he was harassed and ostracized at Pendleton for at least a year because he was gay and black. The family believes the 29-year-old Provost was the victim of a hate crime--and the Navy says the torture, shooting and burning of a sailor at military base was a "random act" of violence.

The seaman was laid to rest with full military honors on Friday.

If the United States Navy will not even tell Seaman Provost's family how their son died in the line of duty, do we really believe their so-called "investigation" will yield the "truth"?
http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2009/...e-o-002103.php
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post #2 of 18
7/15/09 at 11:25am
I can't imagine I'm going to read anything sadder or more disturbing today.
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post #3 of 18
7/15/09 at 11:28am
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...and the Navy says the torture, shooting and burning of a sailor at military base was a "random act" of violence.
This is absolute, pure 100% bull. Anyone who says otherwise, the United States Navy included, is complicit in what happened.
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post #4 of 18
7/15/09 at 11:36am
When you put on the uniform, you realize that there are certain inherent dangers involved in wearing it.

This should not be one of them.

The UCMJ only calls for the death penalty in cases of treason, mutiny/barratry, and pusillanimous conduct in the face of the enemy during times of war.

It should be changed just this one time to deal with the fuckers who did this.
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post #5 of 18
7/15/09 at 11:40am
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Originally Posted by MissZooey View Post
This is absolute, pure 100% bull. Anyone who says otherwise, the United States Navy included, is complicit in what happened.
And if it truly were random, and not just some queer, don't you think they'd be doing everything in their power to find out who did it?

Incredibly disturbing.
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post #6 of 18
7/15/09 at 11:44am
American allies have no problem with gays in the military. Look at Israel, Britain or Australia. I guess those nations are all better than America, huh?
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post #7 of 18
7/15/09 at 12:09pm
Completely fucked. I remember reading about this right when it happened, and was thinking "Yeah, this isn't going to end well and this guy isn't going to get any closure if the military has anything to say about it."

And of course the first thing people fixated on when I posted the story elsewhere was that Sheila Jackson-Lee was asking for an inquiry and basically "isn't she that crazy black congresswoman who wanted to waste time recognizing the life and death of Michael Jackson lololol" instead of, you know, someone dying.
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post #8 of 18
7/15/09 at 4:38pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBXu-iY7cw
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post #9 of 18
7/15/09 at 6:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by eenin View Post
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBYUWPg32r4&NR=1
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post #10 of 18
7/15/09 at 6:46pm
Clearly, the Navy didn't feel that the family could handle the truth.
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post #11 of 18
7/15/09 at 6:57pm
Well played, sir. Well played.
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post #12 of 18
7/15/09 at 9:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HBarr View Post
American allies have no problem with gays in the military. Look at Israel, Britain or Australia. I guess those nations are all better than America, huh?
When it comes to ridiculous shit that causes horrors like this?

Yep.
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post #13 of 18
7/16/09 at 3:37am
Are you sure he didn't do this to himself just to stir shit up? Gays are sneaky like that.

Random act of violence my ass. That's pretty much what I'd expect the military to say. I was officer on duty for my unit one night when I was in the army. In a unit next to mine in the same camp, the officer on duty caught a private shooting up heroine, took him in custody and filled a report to his commander, as the rules state. So what happened in the end? The next day an officer's meeting was called where our commander flat out told us that he'd have our heads if something like that happened in our unit. In situations like this we weren't supposed to do anything. Just inform our commander so that the private in question can get an indefinite medical leave while his transfer to a more 'fitting unit' and his 'early discharge' was prepared. You see there are no drugs in the army and we can't have paperwork say otherwise.
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post #14 of 18
7/16/09 at 4:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HBarr View Post
American allies have no problem with gays in the military. Look at Israel, Britain or Australia. I guess those nations are all better than America, huh?
Heres the thing, if you are openly gay in the armed forces in australia, you won't get tortured and burnt to death, but you will get alot of shit flung at you in regards to your sexuality. Life won't automatically be pleasant.

We're not as evolved as some people think.
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post #15 of 18
7/16/09 at 6:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmub View Post
Heres the thing, if you are openly gay in the armed forces in australia, you won't get tortured and burnt to death, but you will get alot of shit flung at you in regards to your sexuality. Life won't automatically be pleasant.

We're not as evolved as some people think.
Being openly gay almost anywhere, is likely to cause you trouble. But if you're willing to put up with it there shouldn't be laws not allowing you to freely express such a big part of your personality. Cockroaches scurry away when the lights come on in the room.
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post #16 of 18
7/17/09 at 1:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmub View Post
Heres the thing, if you are openly gay in the armed forces in australia, you won't get tortured and burnt to death, but you will get alot of shit flung at you in regards to your sexuality. Life won't automatically be pleasant.

We're not as evolved as some people think.
True but because it's an open and honest situation, if someone does end up being shot twice and set on fire it gets pretty hard for the armed forces to spin that violence away as being 'random' really doesn't it.

...we're not a utopia, but you just don't get stuff like that happening to gays in the military here these days.
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post #17 of 18
7/18/09 at 12:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
True but because it's an open and honest situation, if someone does end up being shot twice and set on fire it gets pretty hard for the armed forces to spin that violence away as being 'random' really doesn't it.

...we're not a utopia, but you just don't get stuff like that happening to gays in the military here these days.
Well it's all the rage here, we try to burn at least a dozen homosexuals a week.


Give me a fucking break.
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post #18 of 18
7/18/09 at 3:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HBarr View Post
American allies have no problem with gays in the military.
And neither does America, as long as those damn country-protecting, stereotype-defying queers keep their mouths shut.
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