Reimagining Safety
A map of US military bases around the world
Today’s guests on Black Diplomats are Pam Campos-Palma and Melissa Bryant, two women who have complicated relationships with America. Both women are military vets, one the daughter of immigrants, one a fourth-generation service member. Both were taught that the military is a pathway to prosperity. Both experienced the racism and misogyny that are defining parts of living in America, and both persevered. They know what it’s like to love this country, even when it doesn’t love you back.
Host Terrell J. Starr asks Campos-Palma and Bryant what patriotism means to them, and talks about the way that word has been bound up with whiteness in the US. Is it possible for Americans be truly patriotic without also being white?
From our bloated nuclear program to our militarized police departments, the philosophy of safety in the US is not capable of providing protection from the threats of the modern world. Rethinking safety means more than updating weapons systems and technology. Conversations like this one are defining the future, helping America work better for us all.
Melissa Bryant and her father, two members of a multi-generational military family.
Melissa is a noted veterans and military advocate and thought leader with 20 years of combined experience in federal government management, nonprofit advocacy, and nonprofit executive leadership. She was most recently the National Legislative Director for The American Legion, and previously served as the Chief Policy Officer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
A former Army Captain and Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, Melissa's extensive record of public service includes critical roles in both military and civil service as a senior intelligence officer. As a Department of Defense and Intelligence Community plans, policy, and operations managing expert, she served in key leadership positions with the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Joint Staff, the United States Military Academy, and Army Intelligence. She was successful in building “coalitions of the willing” to advance operational and strategic objectives while developing and implementing plans and policy for the defense and intelligence communities.
Follow Melissa on Twitter to keep up with her new work.
Pam Campos-Palma
Pam Campos-Palma is an impactful political strategist and movement builder focused on peace and security, equity engineering, and movement building at home and across borders. She is an often consulted and trusted adviser to national-level leaders, organizations, think tanks, and campaigns, expertly bridging the gap between grassroots movement and grasstops policy worlds to win lasting change. At the core of all her work is the democratization of foreign/defense/security policy through the leadership development, coalition building, and political organizing of war-affected peoples, namely the vets/military community. She is also engaged in transatlantic work around populism and defeating rising global ethno-nationalism and autocratic powers.
Pam served in the U.S. Air Force for over a decade as an operations and anti-terrorism intelligence analyst working in Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq and Afghanistan. She began her career in the immigrant rights movement, served as a gubernatorial appointee for the state of Oregon, and as a consultant to international NGO’s and social impact ventures.
For more information go to her website.