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^Jortlant» (Observer
November 9, 2011
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S E R V IN G THE PAC IFIC N O R T H W E S T FOR 3 0 YEARS
photo by M indy C ooper /T he P ortland O bserver
Retired Lt. Col. Leneld E. Brown is founder of the Portland chapter
of the National Association o f Black Veterans.
Advocating for •
Those Who Served
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fr o n t
PUT UOUR
TO U5
Get connected with your military
education benefits. Veterans’ benefits
advice is available every 2nd Thursday
from 8 a.m.- noon in the Student Center.
Visit pcc.edu/vets to learn more.
I
Cascade
Campus
Salutes
Flmerica's
:
- ...—
V eterans
trying to attain m y b enefits, I d id n ’t
understand the p ro ced u re.”
For o v er 24-years, B row n served
his co u n try ..In 1994, how ever, he
suffered from a stroke and was forced
to find other options because o f his
current state o f health.
“ I w as looking fo r som ething to
do, and I w anted it to be som e kind
o f volunteer w ork because I couldn ’ t
function as an en g in eer,” he said. ‘‘I
am a disabled retired vet, and I wanted
to volunteer m y services.”
In h is o w n p e rso n a l e ffo rts ,
B row n recalls the difficulties he had
in retrieving his benefits once he
becam e retired. “ It w as fru stratin g ,”
he said. “ I w a sn ’t looking to be a
leader,” he said. “ But b ecause I had
such a hard tim e getting m y b e n ­
efits, I w anted to help educate o th ­
ers about the p ro cess.”
So after a lot o f hard w ork and a
little bit o f time. Brow n was aw arded
a ch arter for the P ortland ch ap ter on
N ov. 4, 2006 w ith essentially no
facilitated budget. “ I w as basically
w orking out o f m y c a r w ith a c o m ­
p u ter,” he said.
A lthough the Portland chapter,
located in an office dow ntow n, origi­
nally began w ith m erely 13 v eter­
ans, the v o lu n teer-b ased ch ap ter
currently has o v er 100 m em bers.
Most o f the group’s efforts go to­
wards education o f the processes to
attain veterans benefits, Brown said.
O n the surface, he said, one w ould
say it is h ard er for A frican A m eri­
cans to get th eir benefits. “ I say,
there is alw ays 10 percent that d o n ’t
get the inform ation, and that 10 p er­
cent appears to be m ainly A frican
A m ericans,” he said.
A ccording to B row n, attaining
the inform ation to understand the
process is the biggest barrier, w hich
is a frequent p roblem for m any v et­
erans w hen they first get out o f the
service.
B row n said m ore than often, the
w hite soldier gets a break. “ It has
been like this since the days o f the
C o n stitu tio n ,” he said.
B row n explained, how ever, there
have been drastic, y et slow , changes
w ithin the m ilitary, especially since
the A rm y w as d esegregated w ith
P resid en t T ru m an , w hich began
w ith P resident R oosevelt.
Brown, who entered the army in
1968, said the number of black officers
was very few. “I saw a lot o f racism in
the military, but things have gotten a lot
better,” he said. “The military is one o f
the best places where de-segregation
has occurred because it is based on a'
rank system.”
“ Y ou are not saluting the c o lo r o f
my face, but the rank on m y sh o u l­
der,” said Brow n.
“ A t one tim e, all vets qualified
for all benefits. B utthe veteran popu­
lation is grow ing, and the benefits
seem to be shrinking,” he said. “T his
is hard for A frican A m ericans, but
equally as hard for all ethnic groups.”
F o r m ore inform ation o r to c o n ­
tact the B lack V eterans chapter, call
503-412-4159.