Joey Jones on backlash over NYT Memorial Day op-ed: Shame on them
The Defense Department is criticizing The New York Times for running an article titled 'Why Does the U.S. Military Celebrate White Supremacy?'; Joey Jones reacts and shares his Memorial Day message.
U.S. Marine veteran Johnny "Joey" Jones blasted The New York Times for publishing an editorial on Memorial Day weekend that claims the U.S. military celebrates white supremacy.
"It's something that just stirs your blood a little bit," said Jones, a Fox News contributor, on "Fox & Friends" Monday, calling it a "cheap" attempt by the Times to generate attention and "relevance."
The New York Times Editorial Board published the piece titled “Why Does the U.S. Military Celebrate White Supremacy?” The Sunday editorial made the argument that it’s time to rename military bases after “American heroes, not racist traitors," referring to bases named after Confederate generals.
The editorial listed Fort Benning, Ga., as an example, noting that the military base honored Henry Lewis Benning, a Confederate general “who devoted himself to the premise that African-Americans were not really human and could never be trusted with full citizenship.”
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The editorial pointed to Benning’s “now-famous speech in 1861” during which “he told secession conventioneers in Virginia that his native state of Georgia had left the union for one reason — to ‘prevent the abolition of her slavery.’”
The editorial board noted that Benning’s statements “strongly resemble that of present-day white supremacists — and reference the race war theme put forward by the young racist who murdered nine African-Americans in Charleston five years ago.”
Retired Staff Sgt. Jones, a bomb technician who lost his legs in an explosion in Afghanistan, said he was upset when he read the piece but then said people need to remember who is behind it.
"There are 365 days in a year. There has been 150 years since the Civil War. Why is the New York Times writing this on Memorial Day this year of all years? Because it's relevance, right? It's the opportunity to get people to talk about them," argued Jones. He said it was "offensive" to think that black service members should "wake up this morning" and focus on that aspect of the military's history on Memorial Day.
"That's as bad as saying that coronavirus was warranted because we had slavery 200 years ago. That's just not how we look at our country," Jone said. "We try every morning to get better, not sit around and poke at each other about how bad we are. And I find it offensive and repulsive. ... It's a cheap attempt at relevance in a time when something like coronavirus and Memorial Day are the headlines. And shame on the New York Times for even trying it."
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman tweeted Sunday night in response: “On a solemn day for remembering those that have given their lives for our country fighting against tyranny and subjugation, the NYT has more than a million possible stories of the ultimate sacrifice by American patriots that they could tell. But they don’t.”
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He added in a follow-up statement: “The Department of Defense is the most diverse meritocracy in the country and the most powerful force for good in world history. We have many stories of valor still waiting to be told this Memorial Day weekend.”
Fox News' Talia Kaplan contributed to this report.