Found dead on the military base in Balad, Iraq in July, 2005, a short time after she began serving there, the United States Army ruled 19 year old Pfc. Lavena Johnson’s death as a suicide resulting from a self-inflicted M-16 rifle shot wound, and sent her home in a box. This ruling despite the fact she was found with a broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, acid burns on her genitals (which some suggest were to eliminate DNA evidence of rape), a trail of blood leading away from her tent, and a bullet hole in her head . Five years later I m hard pressed to find any mention of Lavena Johnson, save a rare OMG – WTF post from someone who has only recently discovered the case. There was some coverage in Australia last year, as the story suddenly popped up there as if it hadn’t been heard before.
I wrote of it in The New Yorker, Obama, and Real Tragedy, only a couple of years ago — the first of several posts I wrote on her case. Though the incident occurred in the summer of 2005, that summer of 2008 was the first I had come across it. The coverage at it’s peak was found most often in a few progressive newspapers and blogs. Despite a petition with 50,000 signatures instigated by Color of Change, and in the summer of 2008 an oversight hearing on sexual assault (by the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs) — to address sexual abuse in the military, the hope that Lavena’s case could be presented were shattered. Lavena’s case was not addressed, the case remains a suicide we all know never occurred.
Time passes, I understand. Obama gets elected, banks fail, we lose a our money, tea baggers go nuts, oil gets spilled, Lindsey Lohan gets drunk, Michael Jackson dies, someone is dancing with the stars, and insurance companies win. For all our losses we are preoccupied, and a murdered young solider and the subsequent cover-up, no matter how horrific, slip our mind.
That Lavena Johnson is not the first, and will not be the last, bear keeping in mind, on this memorial day.
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Lavena Johnson: The Silent Truth
Link Collection:
LaVena L. Johnson
Lavena Johnson
Press release from Color of Change.org(50,000 sign petition)
Female Buyers Beware of Obama’s Call to Service
Who Murdered Army Pvt Lavena Johnson?
The Cover-Up of a Soldiers’ Death
The tragic story of LaVena Johnson
Defense Dept. Uncooperative in Sexual Assault Hearings
LaVena Johnson’s Update:Oversight Hearing on Sexual Assault in the Military This Morning at 10:00 EST
Color of Change Launches Campaign to Get hearings for LaVena JohnsonTracey Barnett: Women GIs in fear of the enemy in their army
Suicide or Murder? Three Years After the Death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson in Iraq, Her Parents Continue Their Call for a Congressional InvestigationU.S. Army Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, RIP
The Next Pat Tillman-Style Cover-Up?
LaVena Johnson: Raped and Murdered on a Military Base in Iraq
LaVena L. JohnsonLaVena Johnson: Murdered By Her Colleagues, Ignored By The Army
Justice for Pfc. LaVena Johnson
Oh Cooper–we’re a racist sexist fucked up society that likes to bury our collective heads in the sand–literally here
You’ll never get used to it. But think of 20th century American history–filled with unjustices
“We shall overcome, oh lord, one day we shall overcome,” has become a spiritual to me. But I’m jaded, cynical and living in a state that thinks a confederate flag is a good thing
It’s too disheartening to think about.
Completely agree. We are fucked up to the max. There is no getting back what we once were, or what I’m told we were because I’ve never seen the decency – how what happened can be swept under the rug or ignored while someone sits o their fat ass watching the likes of …I don’t know name some stupid show…
Too bad that this is now memorial tradition for you, way too bad.
No daughter of mine would ever Be allowed in this military, no son either.
.-= g´s last blog ..Birthright =-.
I feel the same way.
I can be nothing but sad on reading this post, because I remember the original postings and nothing has changed.
.-= casey´s last blog ..The Monkey is Off Duke’s Back =-.
That’s what is astonishing – that nothing has changed.
I pride myself on being connected and informed of all current events, but this one slipped by me without even a whimper. If you don’t mind, I’d like to Rachel Maddow, or post it in a comment on her blog….not that she’d pick it up, but it’s worth a try. She’s pretty good about responding to cases like this one, and more than a few of her stories have made it to the show. It’s worth a try.
I can’t remember if she ever did anything on Air America, not that I recall. More power to anyone who can get attention paid to this. I have my google alerts set for anything on the case and as much as my expectations a couple years ago were high…it has all turned to nothing. Go for it.
Nice play on” fortunate son”, too bad that this is becoming a yearly thing 5 years later, it is the futility of it all that’s frustrating. This has to make anyone think about serving in these armed forces. Even males.
If your own people can do this to you, if your own team doesn’t have your back than their is no team and if is no use playing – if your own team is going to cover up your murder and no and cover it up what the fuck.
The major media hardly covered it at all, they never cover anything in debt anyway.
.-= john´s last blog ..Spirits Gone =-.
Your own team. I like that but it is more true than not that often men and women in the military do not seem to be on the same team.
I can’t even imagine, the death would be horrible enough but no on expects the death of war to be such as this. That it’s gone largely ignored is even worse.
.-= kait´s last blog ..Inexpensive Summer Sheath, A Must Have =-.
Exactly
How horrible. I had not heard of this story before.
I don’t think there is a “once were” to get back to. Before television and then the internet, horrible atrocities occured and few knew about them. What’s most disturbing (in terms of public knowledge) is how so many can know about this and still nothing is done.
I applaud you for keeping the story in our view, think the Rachel Maddow idea is a good one, and hope that maybe still something will be done.
.-= ChrisJ´s last blog ..Those Damn Binaries =-.
I often feel that too much time has past, though there need be no rules in these cases. I am not sure what transpires, or conspires, to keep the silence, but one day I hope to find out.
I’m glad you remind us of this.
.-= Doug´s last blog ..Fratricide =-.
I hope one day for it to no longer be necessary for me to do so.
You are the first place I read this a couple of years ago, and the only place I’ve seen it since.
I would have expected a larger outcry as well, more indignation, but on memorial day -at least you are remmebering. Maybe one day justice ewill be sered here. I hope so.
.-= jacob´s last blog ..Happy Memorial Day to You =-.
It was here and there but never so much in the public eyes or in major media. A blip here and the public seeming not to care made the decision for the bigger outlets not to investigate or even report on it.
The TAPS – nice affect.
I wasn’t in the country during the time you were writing that, and this is the first I have heard or read of this. You would think this would be something to get to the bottom of. I wonder why so few in the media have paid it much attention – or done an investigation. Do you think there is some kind of pressure from the DOJ on this preventing it?
I don’t know, I’m just wondering, not having read but the links you posted me I have to wonder.
.-= ben´s last blog ..The Homosexuals =-.
I am sure of it but after that a little investigative reporting might have helped – it just never happened.
If there was a genuine bone in their body this is something Nancy Grace or even that Jane V Mitchell would be all over – enough said.
exactly joe,
Wow. That is horrific – though unsurprising given what our military is today… Echoes G… Thank you Cooper for bringing Lavena’s story back into the light.
at least yearly unless I hear something else on it. But my hope for more usually goes unanswered.
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OMG…what the hell.. Why I am just now hearing about this..It is 2010…Why haven’t they done anything about this? … the world in which we live in..SMH
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