Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, January 09, 2012

Death of Private Danny Chen: Military Admits Chen Was Target of Race-Based Hazing on Daily Basis

U.S. Army investigators have released explosive new details about the death of Private Danny Chen, who allegedly took his own life just weeks after he was deployed to Afghanistan last October. The family of the 19-year-old Chinese-American soldier says the Army told them Chen had been abused by comrades on an almost daily basis, including racist hazing, with soldiers throwing rocks at him, calling him ethnic slurs and forcing him to do push-ups or hang upside down with his mouth full of water. “This is not a situation where you can expect Danny to make complaints to higher-ups when they’re the ones that are causing this hazing,” says Liz OuYang of the civil rights group OCA-New York. “It was incumbent upon the officer, the highest leader in this platoon, to take action. ... Had he reported it to higher-ups, there’s a great possibility that Danny may still be alive today.” Chen’s family and supporters have called for eight soldiers charged in his death to be tried in the United States, instead of overseas.

Video
Source: Democracy Now!  

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