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"Introducing Your Minority Affairs Specialists at Major Commands." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 16-18.

SuDoc No.: D208.3

Further information on Minority Affairs Specialists. It includes a partial listing of Special Assistants for Minority Affairs at major commands.




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Source: "Introducing Your Minority Affairs Specialists at Major Commands." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 16-18. "Every base, station and aircraft squadron commander and ship commanding officer shall appoint an aware minority group officer or senior petty officer as his special assistant for minority affairs," directed Admiral Zumwalt's NAVOP Z-66.

He felt this was necessary in order to "open up new avenues of communication with not only our black personnel, but also with all minority groups in the Navy so that we may learn what and where the areas of friction are. Second, all of us in the Navy must develop far greater sensitivity to the problems of all our minority groups so that we may more effectively go about solving them... Much remains to be done."

Source: "Introducing Your Minority Affairs Specialists at Major Commands." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 16-18. Since that message was received in February, commands have appointed and begun consulting their special assistants. Much of the work accomplished by LCDR William Norman, special assistant to the CNO, is done with the help of local minority affairs assistants.

"My primary purpose can be summed up as trying to make the black sailor more of an integral part of the Navy," one appointed assistant explained. "That can only be done through an exchange of ideas between black and white Navy men."

Minority affairs advisors to local COs, it is hoped, will be able to pinpoint areas in which minority groups feel discrimination exists. They will also assist local commands in matters involving minority Navymen, with an emphasis upon improving morale, performance and career retention.

Another advisor to a Pacific Force commander explained that "in many cases a grievance may simply be the result of a misunderstanding. And, sometimes, operational requirements or manpower shortages may preclude a remedy. In any event, however, the why is answered."

"Another important fact to consider," he continued, "is that if a man believes he has a grievance, even though it might be illogical, it's still a valid grievance to him. Until you can communicate to him the facts surrounding the situation, his grievance is a real as the frustration and hostility that accompany it."

Source: "Introducing Your Minority Affairs Specialists at Major Commands." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 16-18. Rear Admiral J. N. Shaffer, Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Atlantic, knew whom he wanted when Z-66 came out directing each major commander to appoint a minority affairs assistant. He appointed Lieutenant (jg) Don M. Johnson.

"In order to solve some of the problems, the blacks had to get involved. This is one area where we can't wait for the whites to solve the problem," said LTJG Johnson.

LTJG Johnson sees his primary purpose with COMCRUDESLANT as getting "ideas on what is needed for individuals to advance in the Navy and to get a better education."

The 29-year-old officer came to his present assignment from the USS Forrest Sherman. He has not always been an officer. In 1961, he enlisted from his Detroit, Mich., home and was sent to Radarman "A" School after boot camp. Graduating first in his class, with his "push button" third class crow, LTJG Johnson was assigned duty aboard the destroyer, USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.

During the next year and a half, he was advanced to RD2 and then sent to Radarman "B" School. While attending the school, he was notified that his application for the NESEP program was accepted. Naval Prep School at San Diego followed, and then the young officer candidate studied at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque.

Source: "Introducing Your Minority Affairs Specialists at Major Commands." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 16-18. During his two years at school, Mr. Johnson made RD1, and then graduated in June, 1969, with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. On 4 Jun 1969, he was commissioned an ensign by his commanding officer on board the Kennedy.

Proceeding through the first 10-week NESEP OCS course, Electronic Warfare School, and Air Interceptor Control School, LTJG Johnson was finally assigned "R" Division Officer on the USS Willis A. Lee for the last three months before she was decommissioned.

He was transferred to the destroyer Sherman as CIC officer, and served there a year before his present position in Newport, R.I.

Many things concern the officer, one of them being the rating system. "There are some ratings in the Navy that appear to be closed to blacks," he said. "It isn't because of racial discrimination by BuPers," he said, "but rather you have to know somebody in the rating to tell you the tricks in making rate or switching to it."

Source: "Introducing Your Minority Affairs Specialists at Major Commands." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 16-18. On discrimination, LTJG Johnson states that "not everybody is equal – each individual has a different background, environment, etc., but everybody in the Navy should be given fair treatment. That is what Z-66 is all about."

LTJG Johnson will be traveling to COMCRUDESLANT units and ports in the future to talk to the black and white personnel and their COs. "I want to get ideas on what is needed for individuals to advance in the Navy and get a better education."

NOTE: A major portion of the articles appearing in this special report have been prepared by J03 J.R. Kimmins, USN, following extensive interviews with the Navy officials involved in this program. Kimmins, formerly a writer in the Minority Affairs Branch of CHINFO, is now a staff journalist in BuPers Career Information and Publications Division and has written extensively for ALL HANDS Magazine.

Source: "CHINFO'S Minority Affairs Division." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 14.





Assistants at Major Commands – A Partial Listing

Here is a partial listing of Special Assistants for Minority Affairs at major commands.


CINCLANTFLT (Norfolk, Va.) CDR Reeves R. Taylor
CINCPACFLT (Pearl Harbor) YN1 Henry E. Coley
PHIBLANT (Little Creek, Va.) ENS Henry Nixon, Jr.
PHIBPAC (Coronado, Calif.) RDC Otis Williams
CINCUSNAVEUR (London, England) PNCS Walter A. Smith
MINELANT (Charleston, S.C.) ENCS Arthur Hurd
MINEPAC (Long Beach, Calif.) DM2 Benny A. Howard
COMCRUDESLANT (Newport, R.I.) LTJG Don Johnson
COMCRUDESPAC (San Diego, Calif.) YNCS Willie J. Coleman
COMFAIR, QUONSET AMSC Henry B. Green
COMFAIR, JACKSONVILLE, FLA. LCDR Jas. M. Jacquet, Jr.
COMFAIR, SAN DIEGO, CALIF. AC1 Jerome Scott
COMFAIR, NORFOLK, VA. CDR Elias J. Stetz
COMFAIR, LEMOORE (Calif.) YNC Domingo J. Pina
NAS ALBANY (Ga.) LTJG Everett R. Johnson
NAS CUBI POINT YN1 Clyde L. Corley
SUBASE, NEW LONDON, CONN. LT Jesse Collins
NAVSTA, WASH., D.C. HMC Thomas Short
NAVSTA, SAN FRANCISCO PNCS William V. Clarke
NAVSTA, NORFOLK SKCM Orvis T. Wade
NAVSTA, MAYPORT BMC Harold Frazier
NAVSTA, PHILADELPHIA YN1 Joseph Brundage
NAVSTA, SAN DIEGO SDCS Charlie M. Gore
NAVSTA, CHARLESTON SK1 Harold Fooster
NAVSTA, KEY WEST SKCS R.C. Tolbert
NAVSTA, ROTA AT1 Martin L. Rewin
NAVSTA, ADAK ABFC Joseph L. Williams
NAVSTA, SUBIC BAY LTJG Mitchell C. Hilton


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