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Ari Sesu Merretazon Part 4: Helping Other Vetreans

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In part 4 of the interview series with Ari Susu Merretazon, he and Jason A. Higgins talk about Ari's work and advocacy in the modern day. In the full interview there are extended conservations about a failed lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia about the lack of a productive veterans services center, on the lack of acknowledgement of service for many veterans, and how Ari feels about contemporary issues like statue removal and COVID-19, among others. On this page are five excerpts from the full-length interview, which can be viewed in it's entirety at the bottom of this page.


During Merretazon's incarceration, people from President Jimmy Carter's administration got in contact with him, which eventually led to him meeting Jimmy Carter in the White House. This clip explores how Merretazon organized incarcerated veterans at Lorton Reformatory, a federal penitentiary outside of Washington D.C. and the legacies of that advocacy in the criminal justice system today.
 

"And the individual veterans themselves who happened to be in prison now and they finally got some resources they can do something with once they returned. And so I think it was Bill Lawson outta President Carter's office that really understood the moment, and that's what happened."


Ari was part of a recognition for his service in Vietnam, 50 years after the fact. However he still has some qualms about how American society treats veterans after they come home. This clip explores the difference in how dead veterans and alive veterans are commemorated and what should done to give the veterans the proper credit and respect for their service.

"You got to maybe acknowledge your veterans and you acknowledge them just because they survived and they fought this war."


When Ari arrived back in the United States from his time in Vietnam in 1968, the services he had available to him were exteremlely limited. I this clip, he speaks on what he felt should have been available to him at the time, and how veterans should not be forced to advocate for social services in order to get them.

"They need a very strong outreach program that acknowledge veterans and their families and dependents, and they, they need to acknowledge them without having a veteran, having an advocate."


When it comes to how public officials treat Vietnam war veterans specifically, Ari is quick to mention how while parades and celebrations and commemorations are fun, they don't really solve the issue. To him, those events showcase a bare minimum on the public officials to acknowledge the existence of veterans without actually helping them through social services.

"I support those types of ceremonial things, but I do not initiate any of that because that's not the most important thing for me. That's for the elected officials who want to put a field and must show public they're doing something."


Around the time this interview was conducted, the Black Veterans Project was in the midst of a legal battle to obtain reparations and have the federal government acknowledge what they had done in the past against people of color. Ari Sesu Merretazon and Jason Higgins discuss this legal fight and speak on why it's still relevant in the modern day.

"Reparations for Black veterans is clear to me the level of sacrifice that we made. I would join any organization who will put forth Black veterans as part of their reparation process."

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Ari Susu Merretazon, interviewed by Jason A. Higgins, Part 4

This page has paths:

  1. Ari Sesu Merretazon: Advocacy After Prison Jason Higgins
  2. Who is Ari Sesu Merretazon? Jason Higgins

Contents of this path:

  1. Who is Ari Sesu Merretazon?
  2. Ari Sesu Merretazon, At War
  3. Ari Sesu Merretazon, Life After War
  4. Ari Sesu Merretazon: Advocacy After Prison

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