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• 1 media/Ari S. Merretazon mic set up.jpeg media/Bloods.jpg media/Ari Sesu Merretazon photo.jpeg 2023-01-19T15:43:46+00:00 Ari Sesu Merretazon 83 image_header 118 2023-07-19T16:34:34+00:00 Introduction
  In April of 1968, when Ari Sesu Merretazon first came home from Vietnam, he returned to a nation on fire in the aftermath of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon, formerly known as Haywood Thomas Kirkland, is a Vietnam War veteran from Washington, D.C. He currently resides in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, and is the Chief of Staff at Pointman Soldiers Heart Ministry. Ari is most known for his work as an activist for racial justice and reparations to the descendants of enslaved people in the United States, including Black veterans.
  
  In 1966, Merretazon was drafted under Project 100,000 during the Vietnam War in 1966 as a recon infantry soldier. This program lowered draft eligibility standards to meet the demands of the escalating war in Vietnam. President Johnson and Robert McNamara argued that the program would uplift poor, semi-literate Black men out of poverty, but in reality it funneled poor, semi-literate Black men from the South into combat. During the first years of the war, Black men were twice as likely to die in combat compared to whites. 
  
  The realities of violence and experiences of racism in the military radicalized many Black soldiers and Merretazon found solidarity with other "Bloods" in the field. Counting down the days of their tours in Vietnam like prison sentences, Black soldiers would often daydream about what they would do if they made it back to the "world." Merretazon planned to continue the fight for civil rights in his community. 
  
  Life after Vietnam
  After the war, he returned home to Washington, D.C., where he was later arrested and incarcerated for an armed robbery of armored vehicle transporting more than $300,000 in cash to be incinerated by the Treasury Department. Merretazon served five-and-a-half years at Lorton Reformatory, a federal prison with a 99% Black population. While incarcerated, he organized a group of incarcerated veterans and launched the first VA office inside a prison staffed entirely by incarcerated veterans, called the Incarcerated Veterans Assistance Organization. A self-help program, the IVAO helped veterans in prison file for disability rights. 
  
  These efforts drew national attention when the Washington Post published a news article in 1975. While still incarcerated, Ari Merretazon was invited to the White House to meet with then-President Jimmy Carter, who issued an executive directive to the Department of Justice to collect data on incarcerated veterans. 
  
  Advocating for Incarcerated Veterans
  Once released from prison, Merretazon began visiting prisons across the United States and recreating the Incarcerated Veterans Assistance Organizations in facilities. He also enjoyed key support from Congressman Ronald V. Dellums-- vocal critic of the Vietnam War, civil rights activist, member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the first African American to serve on the Armed Services Committee. “We were able to move in and out of prisons,” said Merretazon. “People from the president's office came down to visit us. That gave us a lot more protection and freedom to move around within the administrative processes and procedures of the prisons.”
  
  With support at the highest levels of political office, Merretazon began building a network of incarcerated veterans across the United States and gathering evidence that he would present to Congress in 1979. During that time, they discovered at “almost every prison in the United States, they had like 20-25 percent Vietnam veterans.” Merretazon engaged with prison administrators at other institutions and attempted to replicate the model first established at Lorton Reformatory with VA offices staffed entirely by incarcerated veterans. He would advocate for this model before Congress as a way to redress the inadequate VA outreach efforts to prisons at the time.

  In July 1979, Congress held hearings on incarcerated Vietnam veterans before the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, highlighting key issues and structural barriers they faced.

  The complete lack of information and reliable estimates on the actual number of incarcerated veterans seriously limited any efforts to provide VA services to veterans in prison. Based on GAO studies, VA records, and direct access to prisons, Ari Sesu Merretazon estimated, “We got over 500,000 Vietnam era veterans in prison, jail, on parole, or awaiting sentence . . . Over half of them are Black.” A GAO report estimated that 60,000 veterans were incarcerated in federal and state prisons, and that 50 percent incarcerated in federal prison were convicted of armed robbery or drug-related offenses. Chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Cranston noted that “educationally disadvantaged veterans constitute a large segment of the incarcerated prison population.” Many veterans also believed they automatically lost disability benefits in prison. An estimated 40 percent were ineligible due to less than honorable discharge status. According to the Government Accounting Office, 44,000 incarcerated veterans were denied disability benefits in 1975. By 1978, another study found that over half of incarcerated veterans had received less-than-honorable discharges, and half of them were Black Vietnam veterans.  

  After testifying before Congress, Merretazon moved to Little Rock, Arkansas to help start a Vet Center. He earned a law degree from Antioch School of Law in 1980 and decided to take his knowledge where it would be more useful. He explained, “I didn't want to stay in the major cities because they have so much more resources. I felt that based on my experience inside of prisons . . . that the worst conditions for veterans to exist was in the Southern prisons: Angola, Arkansas State Prison, and Parchman Farm in Mississippi.” But he came into conflict with a psychiatrist at the Little Rock Vet Center. Merretazon lamented, “I went there with expectations that I could continue to work with veterans in prison. . . He refused to allow me to go into the prisons and assist veterans.”
  
  In 1984, he helped revitalize the Arkansas State Press, a historically Black newspaper that had not published an issue since 1959. At the newspaper, he worked with Daisy Bates, a long-time serving President of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP, who helped integrate Little Rock Central High. JET magazine ran a featured story on Merretazon and Daisy Bates in April 1984. Throughout his life, Merretazon has continued to be an advocate for incarcerated veterans, for education, and for reparations. His organizing undoubtedly played a pivotal role in incarcerated veterans becoming a priority for national veterans organizations. Beginning in the summer of 1979, the Vietnam Veterans of America, a national organization made up of and dedicated to the needs of Vietnam veterans, would take the lead on raising awareness to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and in 1983, it established a legal services program for veterans in the criminal justice system. 

  Legacies
  Today, Ari Sesu Merretazon is advocate for justice, for veterans in his community, and an activist for reparations. Most recently, he filed a lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia because, although it is required by state law, there was no director of Veterans Affairs for the city of Philadelphia. His story has been told in Bloods, an oral history collection of Black Vietnam veterans, by Wallace Terry, and imaginatively adapted in the 1995 film Dead Presidents. But these accounts only tell a partial story.
  
  Merretazon is perhaps the single most influential advocate for incarcerated veterans in American history. 

  Interview Part One    

       The first interview with Ari Sesu Merretazon recounts his early life in Washington, D.C., with his family. Ari discusses how his parents, his upbringing, and the historical protests that occurred during his childhood shaped his outlook on the military and the United States. In 1966, Merretazon was drafted for the Vietnam War and served from 1966 to 1968. According to him, the relationships between black and white people in the military were severely strained. The protests surrounding civil rights, Kennedy’s  assassination, and racism significantly contributed to the division. Ari’s occupation in Vietnam was as a recon infantry soldier and emphasized ‘search, kill, and destroy’ missions. A major connection between soldiers within the war was the solidarity among black soldiers. Ari emphasizes how the only way they survived was through their blood love. 95% of the stockade in Vietnam was Black soldiers, further enforcing solidarity. Ari also stated that this solidarity transferred into sympathy for the Vietnamese people. The power struggles made both groups gravitate towards each other; however, the ‘search, kill, and destroy’ missions destroyed Vietnam and broke the Vietnamese spirit. The kill-or-be-killed mentality ran rampant. The long-lasting psychological effects of the war were also imperative to understanding the conditions of black soldiers in and out of Vietnam.

  Interview Part Two

       The second interview begins with Ari’s diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the efforts made to gain disability benefits through Veteran Affairs (V.A.). The interview then discusses the use of drugs such as marijuana and heroin. The use of drugs was very prevalent due to the explosion of drugs in black communities. Ari attempted to provide resources for those affected by drug use within his community. Rap sessions also played a vital role in assisting with war trauma. Not only did surviving the war impact Ari’s mental state but impacted the relationships he had with his parents. Ari also discusses how he was imprisoned at Lorton Reformatory for five-and-a-half years (1969-1979) for the armed robbery of a mail truck transporting more than $300,000 in US currency scheduled to be incinerated.

  Ari mentions the large racial difference in rates of incarceration. More specifically, how Lorton Reformatory consisted of 95% black men. However, Merretazon’s work in the Reformatory was revolutionary. He introduced higher education, base camps, and self-care programs. This work was so critical to achieving veteran reparations that Ari was able to meet with Jimmy Carter while incarcerated and testified before congress after he was released. Eventually, the work reached a point where veteran rights and reparations reached the Senate, and proper procedures and movement of veterans were established. The interview concludes with a powerful statement Ari made: “war is prison too.” This statement has profound sentiment toward the harsh conditions faced by imprisoned persons and the inability to forget or move past it, just as war.

  Interview Part Three

  The third and final interview with Ari dives into his work with the Vietnam Veterans of America after his release from prison. The work began with a fruitful education, part of which he earned from the Antioch School of Law as a legal technician. With his background, Ari could assess the significant number of incarcerated veterans without disability benefits and set up the Incarcerated Veterans Assistance Organization and regressed to a partnership with governments in Washington, D.C. This work led to alliances with Daisy Bates and made its way into a major African American newspaper Jet Magazine. However, this work was not easy, Ari faced major battles with team leaders of his organization, the Arkansas county school board, and other influential organizations. Despite these struggles, Ari was able to create an effective veterans assistance program, make a name for himself, and initiate great change outside the political office. The interview also discusses how Ari’s traumatic brain injury occurred and how it has impacted different aspects of his life. From there, Ari discusses his relationship with his children and how his son’s health helped them to develop a close relationship. Discussing reparations for veterans is an important part of the final interview. Ari continuously talks about the impediments he faces with organizations like N’COBRA, the IBW 21st century group. Because of all these different organizations influencing governmental policies and lobbying, competing visions for reparations emerged. Reconciliation and reparations are two important factors that must be evaluated in order to combat the struggles faced by all veterans. Although it is not a perfect solution, Ari mentions how it is an important first step. The interview concludes with Ari’s connection to his culture – how his name is a representation of his spirit: hard-working and determined – how Ari’s work has aided many veterans, and how hard veteran reparation struggles have been.
  
  The three interviews illuminate the determination of Ari Merretazon, among many other black veterans, to obtain reparations for the trauma and suffering they endured. As the war in Vietnam raged on, so did the war of racial inequality. Ari’s experiences and advocacy beyond Vietnam helped fuel his work with the V.A., reparations for racial division on institutional levels, and ensuring a sense of community and blood-love remained. Not only is this work essential to creating equitable conditions for the black community in all aspects of American society but for promoting equality in a public manner.
• 1 media/Bloods.jpg media/Air Merretazon and Jimmy Carter.jpeg 2023-07-19T16:28:49+00:00 Justice for Veterans 31 Ari Sesu Merretazon part 3 image_header 139 2025-08-09T16:57:53+00:00

  Part 3

  The third interview with Merretazon explores his work with the Vietnam Veterans of America after his release from prison. The work began with an education, part of which he earned from the Antioch School of Law as a legal technician. With his background, Ari could assess the significant number of incarcerated veterans without disability benefits and set up the Incarcerated Veterans Assistance Organization and regressed to a partnership with governments in Washington, D.C.
  
  This work led to alliances with Daisy Bates and made its way into a major African American newspaper Jet Magazine. However, this work was not easy, Ari faced major battles with team leaders of his organization, the Arkansas county school board, and other influential organizations. Despite these struggles, Ari was able to create an effective veterans assistance program, make a name for himself, and initiate great change outside the political office. The interview also discusses how Ari’s traumatic brain injury occurred and how it has impacted different aspects of his life. From there, Ari discusses his relationship with his children and how his son’s health helped them to develop a close relationship. Discussing reparations for veterans is an important part of the final interview. Ari continuously talks about the impediments he faces with organizations like N’COBRA, the IBW 21st century group. Because of all these different organizations influencing governmental policies and lobbying, competing visions for reparations emerged. Reconciliation and reparations are two important factors that must be evaluated in order to combat the struggles faced by all veterans. Although it is not a perfect solution, Ari mentions how it is an important first step. The interview concludes with Ari’s connection to his culture – how his name is a representation of his spirit: hard-working and determined – how Ari’s work has aided many veterans, and how hard veteran reparation struggles have been.
  
  The oral history collection of Ari Sesu Merretazon illustrates the ongoing struggles among Black veterans to receive equal treatment, veterans' benefits, and acknowledgment of their experiences during and after military service. As the war in Vietnam raged on, so did the war of racial inequality. Ari’s experiences and advocacy beyond Vietnam helped fuel his work with the V.A., reparations for racial injustices on institutional levels, and ensuring a sense of community and blood-love remained.

  Incarcerated Veterans Assistance Organization

  Jason Higgins: I'm really curious about this moment because as you know, I've written a book about the history of incarcerated veterans, and what you're talking about is really the first time incarcerated veterans organized together, and forced the VA to recognize disability benefits for incarcerated veterans that had not been done before you, and this other group.
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: That's right.
  
  Jason Higgins: How did that happen? How did you reach out to the VA? Was there a representative who visited the prison? Tell me about the process.
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: It's a process. Lorton Reformatory had this thing. We developed this thing about inmates' self-care programs. It's part of rehab. And a lot of people's going out of the prison for singing songs as inmate choirs, and would have gone out, there's a group called Inner Voices I think, maybe do all these type of plays, and whatnot that was going in, and out of prison, I said, hey come on. If they don't go in, and out of the prison, we definitely should go in and out of prison. We ended up using the leverage of our veteran status to bring in, where everybody could participate, the Federal City College. We set up a basic campus at Lorton Reformatory where anybody could participate, and enroll in the college. We did that based on the fact that the law said that, if I have benefits, that becomes your property, and that as a veteran, you're entitled to all of these things which is free education, and stuff like that. It was on us veterans to make the contact with those higher education institutions, those apprenticeship training programs, those work release programs, and develop a relationship where we could do through engaging in education, and in a better frame of mind, and be back into our communities as a contributor instead of a predator. Let me put it that way.
  
  Jason Higgins: Sure. Just to get the specific dates. What years were you incarcerated?
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: From 1969-1976.

  Incarcerated Veterans Organizing for Disability Rights

  Jason Higgins: This is at the same time that the Department of Justice does its first study trying to identify how many incarcerated veterans are imprisoned.
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: What year was that you found? 
  
  Jason Higgins: They started the study in 1979 and then they published it in 1981.
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: You know what? That was because of the work we was doing in law reformatory. We raised a lot of hell. We got a lot of coverage in the Washington Post newspaper before we actually begin to make that happen for better than in prison. Once we able to get apprenticeship training programs inside the institutions, higher education inside the institutions, then we had the foundation to apply for our benefits. You see? That was the first thing first, is develop the relationship with the higher education institutions and the various types of apprenticeship programs that was out there and apply for our benefits for that type of training.
  
  Jason Higgins: Absolutely. It was unprecedented. Whenever you actually got your disability benefits, was it full 100 percent or was it a reduced amount out of that total? I think today it's 10 percent.
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: Let me tell you how it happened. I didn't apply for my benefits with veteran benefits until 2010. That was long after I was out of prison, long after I've been in the parole, long after I finished walking down 25 years on unsupervised parole. When I came out of prison, I was part of the staff of the Vietnam Veterans of America. I think we had offices over 18th and K Street somewhere. I was handling the incarcerated veterans part because that's the resources I connected with in my inside, outside approach in developing the organization. I had US congressmen as my outside coordinators. Ron Dellum, Bill Lawson who was part of the president's staff. The president at that time was Jimmy Carter. Bill Lawson, the president staff came to visit me in prison because he thought it was such a unique thing to be involved in and he wanted to make sure it gets as much exposure as possible through his responsibilities at the White House. We made it happen that way. It's just my conceptualizing that concept of inside, outside. The inmates going to deal with the issues on the inside. Our community and representatives going to deal with make sure it happen from the outside in terms of setting up the structure for veterans to receive their benefits and we were successful in that.

  Invitation to the White House

  Ari Sesu Merretazon: That effort carried my work to the White House of Jimmy Carter, I was acknowledged at White House by Jimmy Carter and Bill Lawson. I hope Bill Lawson have opportunity to see this video because he was my outside corner, he was a major piece. I don't think we could have done it without some real good, strong outside resources and that was happening. He was working in Jimmy Carter's White House and the Ronald Dellums United States congressman from Berkeley, California.
  
  Jason Higgins: You met Carter while you were incarcerated?
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: Yes. Exactly.
  
  Jason Higgins: Can you talk about that. What was that day like? Like how long did you interact with the president?
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: News got out that veterans were organizing in law reformatory. That hit the Washington Post and all overlap that type of stuff. Those who was concerned or had some responsibilities for veterans in terms of resource access, they make contact with us from that point. They come down and visit and want talk to us whatnot because veterans were going in and out of prison as well, because they will tend to fail to see the college. We had a satellite campus inside the prison. We had laid the foundation. Men who wanted to do other types of things, your programs and what not that serve the community, they would come to us and say, look how you develop the program? Can you help us out? I lay it out for them, they go get approval from the administration and then they got their program going out and like, what is it? Like inner voices and that was a very notable group. They did all types of skits and stuff like that about men in prison or what not so they became very popular in DC. I'm glad I had the opportunity in being involved with them and setting the foundation of how to engage the system based on our willingness to give back to the system even while incarcerated,

  Locating Incarcerated Veterans

  Jason Higgins: Do you recall much about testifying before the Senate. . .
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: Well, at first, we had to convince the Senate that if the issue worthy of a hearing to be held. We did our work around the demographics of veterans in prison. We had a relationship with the Congress Ron Dellums. He was our outside coordinator, believe that. We had a Congress person who understood what was going on, who was committed to assisting Blacks in prison. . . .US Congressman Ronald Dellums from Berkeley and I think he's from Berkeley, California, or Oakland; one of the two. Through his law just of being a US congressman and a very popular one that we were able to move in and out of prison pretty good. People from the President's office came down to visit us. That gave us a lot more protection around and freedom around to move within the administrative processes and procedures of the prison.
  
  Jason Higgins: You were on the ground actually doing the research and finding out how many incarcerated veterans were in person? . . . How long did that take?
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: Well, first, I started with the prison I was in. I was incarcerated. All we had to do is get the data on that. Then push that. As it's pushing that forward we found out that almost every prison in the United States, they had like 20-25 percent Vietnam veterans. That talks about the readjustment issues from coming home from war back to society. When Senator Alan Cranston called the hearing on readjustment problems with Vietnam veterans, I was in the forefront of testifying for the issues of the incarcerated veterans. After that, the federal government put in place what we call the Vietnam vet centers so that veterans can go and talk to each other and share their experiences of readjustment experience with each other. I think there's about 14 was put online around that time, 1980. That shows the furthest city I could find. I've bounced South. I chose Little Rock, Arkansas out of all the options of cities that the veterans would be established. I chose Little Rock, Arkansas. I didn't want to go to DC. I didn't want to stay in DC, I didn't want to stay in Philadelphia. I didn't want to stay into the major cities because they have so much more resources. I felt that based on my experience inside of prison with veterans and being a veteran, that the worst conditions of veteran exist in the Southern prison, Angola, Arkansas State Prison. Those types of things. Parchman, in Mississippi, Prison Farm.
  
  We use the administration of the lord reformatory to engage administrators of those institutions. Instead of set it up as an example of what they could do was debated in their prison. We went that route and we were very successful. In fact, even here in Philadelphia. The veterans out at--I can't think of the name of this prison out in Philadelphia. [Eastern State Penitentiary] I can't recall the name of the prison here, but anyhow, I set up the Incarcerated Veterans Assistance Organization there.

  Experiences in Little Rock Vet Center

  Jason Higgins: Talk about your experiences and your time in Little Rock, Arkansas. Were you also involved with veterans and education at the time?
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: Yes, absolutely, because I went to Little Rock initially in 1987, the Vietnam Vets Center. There with announcing the opening of the vet center, all the veterans came out of the neighborhoods and trying to get help that they knew they didn't have opportunity to receive, and so we had a nice clientele there in Little Rock. Of course, we serve the central part of the state. In fact, any veteran could come to Little Rock, to the vet center, and receive services. All that person had to do was be a resident of the state of Arkansas.
  
  Jason Higgins: What was that like for you working with the vet center?
  
  Ari Sesu Merretazon: It was rough because the first 90 days were very, very rough because I had a team leader who happened to be a psychiatrist. That's all he did it while he was in the army, and I didn't see any real understanding of appreciation for combat soldiers, but nevertheless, he looked at them as dependents as opposed to we all being veterans and helping each other.
  
  I made my name serving veterans in prison, incarcerated veterans. I went there with expectations that I could continue to work with veterans in prison. He would not allow me to do it, and we struggled. He refused to allow me to go into the prisons and assist veterans, in which I hadn't made a very significant name and reputation of doing, and brought the whole issue of incarcerated veterans to the national spotlight. He refused to allow me to [LAUGHTER] deal with veterans in prison. That didn't go too well, so I ended up challenging that, and he terminated me, and subsequently engaged some legal matters, and we settled that matter. But then I went back to legal services.

  
  Full Interview Part 3