Earlier today I noted the outrageous case of the anti-war judge who rejected the attempts of a 17 year old foster child who wanted to join the Marines.Blocking this kid from joining the Marines was bad enough. But this judge went further and said during the hearing she opposed the Iraq war, and she accused recruiters of "tap dancing" and promising whatever they needed to to get sign ups. And according to Sgt. Guillermo Medrano, the Marine recruiter who was at the court hearing, the judge said she had blocked another boy who wanted to join the Navy.
Thanks to the Internet, information about this activist judge is coming out...
TxPoet at Ft Hard Knox has done some digging and discovered Mackel's history of Black activism. Here is an excerpt from an article Mackel wrote where she talks about "post-traumatic slavery disorder":
We in the African American community lost thousands of young men and women to the fiasco of the Vietnam War; we annually lose thousands more to addictions, mental illness, and the multiple other malaises that can appropriately be called “post-traumatic slavery disorder.”
In 1997, she spoke at a conference on the topic "20th Century Slave Ships." According to this profile, Mackel is a contact person for the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association. (Credit to TxPoet for locating the above photo of Marilyn Mackel.)
