Ari Sesu Merretazon
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.
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.
This page has paths:
- Ari Sesu Merretazon, interviewed by Jason A. Higgins, Part 1 Jason Higgins
- Ari Sesu Merretazon, Interviewed by Jason A. Higgins, Part 3. Jason Higgins
- Ari Sesu Merretazon interviewed by Jason A. Higgins, Part 2 Jason Higgins
- Navigating Racism in the US and in the Military Jason Higgins
- Drawing Connections Jason Higgins