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National Association for Black Veterans establishes Western Maryland chapter

Frederick News-Post - 7/24/2021

Jul. 24—A few dozen people stood at attention in Frederick on Saturday, squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder in a decorated room barely big enough to hold them all.

"We are Earth," they said in unison. "We are sky. We are all things, but most of all, we are proud men and women today."

That's the creed of the National Association for Black Veterans, which on Saturday established a brand-new chapter serving western Maryland.

"It's phenomenal," said Xavier Bruce, who will serve as the chapter's commander, a wide smile stretched across his face.

The ceremony marking the chapter's installation was equal parts joyous and solemn. Veterans shared stories of their sacrifices and struggles before and after combat, and they acknowledged the unique challenges they — and their ancestors — had faced.

"I stand here today as the grandson of a sharecropper," said Lt. Col Bashiri Phillips, now a decorated comptroller for the U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command with 25 years of active-duty service. "It's surreal to me, even now."

Phillips' ancestors fought in the second World War, he told the crowd. But when they returned home to Alabama, they were "less than welcome."

Despite their service, Black veterans faced vicious discrimination in the Jim Crow South — and across the country. They were largely denied the purported benefits of the G.I. Bill, like housing support, college tuition and business loans.

"It equates to — and I quote — giving all for nothing," Phillips said.

Decades later, Black veterans are still disproportionately affected by homelessness, according to a 2018 study by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The study found that despite comprising just 12.3 percent of the general veteran population, Black veterans accounted for a third of veterans experiencing homelessness.

And regardless of race or ethnicity, military veterans are at a high risk for mental illness, substance abuse and suicide.

Many people — some veterans included, Bruce said — think of veterans service organizations as primarily focused on helping former service members navigate the complicated world of benefits and compensation.

NABVETS does offer that help. But it aims to do more, Bruce said. One of his main goals is to foster an "esprit de corps": a French term denoting a "feeling of pride, fellowship, and common loyalty shared by the members of a particular group."

Lots of veterans lose that feeling when they leave the service, Bruce said, often compounding their feelings of loneliness. And until Saturday, there was no NABVETS chapter serving Frederick, Garrett, Allegany or Washington counties.

As the ceremony wrapped up Saturday, conversation and music buzzed loudly through the halls of the corporate office where attendees had gathered. They laughed and chatted over plates of food, trading stories and phone numbers and firming up plans for an upcoming potluck.

"We create this community of Black veterans so that they're not just in isolation somewhere in Western Maryland with no one to turn to and no one to hang out with and share stories with," Bruce said.

Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek

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