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"Navy Charter on Race Relations and Equal Opportunity." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 4-6.

SuDoc No.: D208.3


The Navy's Charter on Race Relations and Equal Opportunity outlines the Navy's attempts to set "forth all the administrative and personnel powers to bring about the realization of equal opportunity and treatment in the service."




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Source: "Navy Charter on Race Relations and Equal Opportunity." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 4-6. Early in March, the Chief of Naval Operations signed a document which gives the Navy a charter setting forth all the administrative and personnel powers to bring about the realization of equal opportunity and treatment in the service. No other service has taken a step this progressively, nor with more planning.

About six months ago, Admiral E. R. Zumwalt, Jr. appointed an Advisory Committee for Race Relations and Minority Affairs, and charged it will pulling together all the efforts of the Navy under one banner in the area of equal opportunity.

For the past two-and-a-half years, three major Departments of the Navy offices have coordinated policy in the area of racial discrimination, the Bureau of Naval Personnel's Minority Affairs Division, the Bureau's Minority Officer Recruiting Effort, and the Office of Information's Minority Affairs Division.

In November 1970, LCDR William Norman was ordered to Washington to become Admiral Zumwalt's Special Assistant for Minority Affairs. His primary duty was to coordinate for the Navy, what has become fact in the Navy Charter.

Appointed on the ad hoc committee was Mr. John Burroughs, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Minority Affairs; RADM David Bagley, Assistant Chief of Personnel for Personal Affairs; RADM William Green, Director of Navy Recruiting; RADM John G. Finneran, Director of BUPERS Plans and Programs; CAPT William Thompson, Deputy Chief of Information; CAPT Charles Rauch, Special Assistant to CNO; and LCDR Norman.

"For more than two decades it has been the official policy of the Navy to ensure equal opportunity and promote harmonious race relation," states the opening paragraph of the Charter. "Yet, members of minority groups in the Navy have, for the same length of time, been denied full equality of opportunity and treatment.

"As stated by the Secretary of Navy in ALNAV 51 and reaffirmed by the Chief of Naval Operations in NAVOP Z-66, we will maximize our efforts to improve race relations and make equal opportunity in the Navy a reality."

The Charter further puts the Navy behind the Human Goals outlined by the Department of Defense in October 1961 which asserts, continues the Charter, "that in all we do, we must show respect for the serviceman and civilian employee as an individual, recognizing his needs, aspirations and capabilities. It must be affirmed, further, that the Navy will be guided by the principle that the individual has dignity and worth."

The Charter then outlines five basic goals to achieve an efficient naval organization and true, equitable treatment for all members of the Navy Community:

Attract the Navy people with ability, dedication, and capacity for growth... regardless of race, religion, creed, economic background or national origin.

Provide real opportunity for all personnel of the Department of the Navy to rise to the highest level of responsibility that their talent and diligence will take them.

Make service in the Department of the Navy a model of equal opportunity for all.

Help each serviceman at the end of his service in his adjustment to civilian life.

The document then assigns tasks to each of the relevant agencies existing within the Department of the Navy in five broad categories: recruiting, image, career patterns, equal opportunity, and race relations.

The tasks have a definite milestone dates, and definite objectives to be met. Within the section on recruiting, for example, goal percentages for minority midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, goal percentages for NROTC units at predominantly black universities, and goal percentages for black officers and enlisted men are set.

The Office of Information is chiefly tasked with promulgating various messages geared toward the minority audience, through minority-operated and distributed media, including newspapers, radio and television.

The elimination of cultural bias from Navy examination and selection boards is a broad criterion in the career patterns section. Equitable career patterns for minority officers and enlisted men is the goal.

Under the goal of equal opportunity, cognizant agencies are tasked with enlarging programs similar to those carried out at NTC Bainbridge and NAS Alameda where inner-city youth are bused to the naval facilities daily for a week for a summer camp. Also included in this set of goals are various programs concerning housing, exchange messes, libraries, and post-career opportunities for Navy personnel.

Source: "Navy Charter on Race Relations and Equal Opportunity." All Hands. no. 651. Washington, D.C. GPO, April 1971. P. 4-6.


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