{"id":6757,"date":"2014-06-04T11:09:43","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T15:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncdata.wpengine.com\/?p=6757"},"modified":"2017-09-19T23:03:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T03:03:52","slug":"more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/06\/04\/more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"More Black Conservatives Speak on VA Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the scandal over the quality of veterans\u2019 health care provided by the government continues to simmer, more members of the National Center\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/P21Index.html\">Project 21<\/a> black leadership network who have served their country are speaking out about the bureaucratic abuses of veteran benefits.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6758 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/P21EmeryMcClendon.jpeg\" alt=\"P21EmeryMcClendon\" width=\"99\" height=\"107\" \/>An Air Force veteran, Project 21 member <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/bios\/P21Speakers_McClendon.html\">Emery McClendon<\/a> said:<\/p>\n<p>Our veterans deserve better than the treatment that they have been receiving from the Department of Veterans Affairs under President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<p>Every day, those who serve our country in the armed forces put their lives on the line.\u00a0 Veterans were made the promise of care in exchange for their service.\u00a0 They have been betrayed.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone involved in this apparent cover-up must be investigated and disciplined if they were part of these gross abuses.<\/p>\n<p>Having served in the military and being classified as a disabled veteran, I believe the level of care for those who served should never be compromised by a government employee.<\/p>\n<p>The VA needs a good housecleaning from the top down.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6759 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/P21EmeryMcClendon-1.jpeg\" alt=\"P21EmeryMcClendon\" width=\"99\" height=\"107\" \/>Project 21 member <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/bios\/P21Speakers_Dupree.html\">Wayne Dupree<\/a>, another veteran of the U.S. Air Force, said:<\/p>\n<p>As I look over this VA scandal and the deaths of possibly at least 40 veterans as a result of it, my heart is terribly broken.<\/p>\n<p>These results could have been averted if someone would have taken responsibility to fix the initial problem.<\/p>\n<p>There is too much blaming going on with no concrete solutions to fix the problem.<\/p>\n<p>The problems at the VA didn\u2019t start with the Obama Administration, but he promised conditions would be fixed and it would get better.\u00a0 The American people, and the military veterans who served this nation to protect her from foreign and domestic enemies, were sold a bad bag of goods.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-6760 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/P21BobParks-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"P21BobParks\" width=\"133\" height=\"166\" \/>Speaking to a broader and more political marginalization of retired members of America\u2019s armed forces, Project 21 member <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/bios\/P21Speakers_Parks.html\">Bob Parks<\/a> \u2014 veteran of the U.S. Navy \u2014 added:<\/p>\n<p>First, PTSD was exploited to officially and legally disarm a growing number of veterans.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve also witnessed the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s linking of \u201crightwing extremists\u201d and \u201cdisgruntled\u201d veterans, even though the vast majority of political unrest and violence over the last few years seems to have been perpetrated by the left.<\/p>\n<p>Now, veterans are allegedly being allowed to die without receiving the medical treatment they were promised.<\/p>\n<p>Why? \u00a0Maybe because some of us think the very people who\u2019ve defended our liberty are better qualified to lead than those who routinely devise legislation that consistently takes it away.<\/p>\n<p>We now have a better understanding of why veterans and their health was placed on the could-give-a-care backburner, why they are such a threat to the political entitled arrogants and why the very politicians who send others off to war need to have either served or have family serving in the military.<\/p>\n<p>Skin in the game tends to breed common sense.\u00a0 This is something that many presently in power today clearly lack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the scandal over the quality of veterans\u2019 health care provided by the government continues to simmer, more members of the National Center\u2019s Project 21 black leadership network who have served their country are speaking out about the bureaucratic abuses of veteran benefits. An Air&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,74,24,36],"tags":[77],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>More Black Conservatives Speak on VA Scandal - The National Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/06\/04\/more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Almasi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/06\/04\/more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/06\/04\/more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Almasi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/986101645c65e8d001dc8de54beb396d\"},\"headline\":\"More Black Conservatives Speak on VA Scandal\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-04T15:09:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-20T03:03:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/06\/04\/more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal\/\"},\"wordCount\":493,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/06\/04\/more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/P21EmeryMcClendon.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"ConservativeBlog.org\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\",\"Blog\",\"Health\",\"Project 21\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/06\/04\/more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/06\/04\/more-black-conservatives-speak-on-va-scandal\/\",\"name\":\"More Black Conservatives Speak on VA Scandal - 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