The Real World We Live In!

[Double Standards for Shoshana Johnson]

By Christine Phillip

BET.com Staff Writer

Army Spec. Shoshana Johnson, the African American woman who was held prisoner of war in the U.S. invasion of Iraq, was looking forward to a quiet discharge from the Army in a few days. Battle scarred and weary, she has said not a word as her fellow POW comrade in arms Jessica Lynch cashes in with book and movie deals and a celebrity status in the media.

But it is the Army that is forcing Johnson to break her peace. A few days ago, military brass informed her that she would receive a 30 percent disability benefit for her injuries. Lynch, who is White, was discharged in August and will receive an 80 percent disability
benefit.

The difference amounts to $600 or $700 a month in payments, and that is causing Johnson and her family to speak out. They are so troubled by what they see as a "double standard," that they have enlisted Rev. Jesse Jackson to help make their case to the news media.

Jackson, who plans to plead Johnson's cause with the White House, the Pentagon and members of Congress, says the payment smacks a double standard and racism.

"Here's a case of two women, same [unit], same war; everything about their service commitment and their risk is equal. . . . Yet there's an enormous contrast between how the military has handled these two cases," Jackson told The Washington Post.

Johnson's father, Claude Johnson, himself an Army veteran, says that while neither he nor his family begrudge Lynch her celebrity or disability payments, he believes that his daughter should get her due, and it is more than a 30 percent disability benefit.

For its part, the Army, in denying charges of double standard, said Friday that claims are awarded to soldiers according to their injuries.

Johnson, 30, the mother of a 3-year-old daughter, was held captive for 22 days, when her unit stumbled into an ambush in southern Iraq last March.

Eleven soldiers were killed, and six, including Lynch and Johnson, were taken prisoners. Johnson was shot in both legs and is still traumatized by her war experience. In addition to walking with a limp, she suffers from bouts of depression.

So I ask that you forward this email on to all and inform others of this latest racial attack. Forget about the destroying of stamps, forget about Kobe, forget about Michael Jordan getting fired and fight for the rights of this strong Black Woman!!! Email --

Jennette McNear, Payroll Administrator
The Clark Construction Group, Inc.
301-272-8409 -- Phone
301-272-8413 -- Fax
jennette.mcnear@clarkconstruction.com

* * * * *

Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson, 30, El Paso, Texas

Her name means “rose” in Hebrew, the inspiration of an aunt who once worked as a nurse in Brooklyn. But her family is Panamanian-American, and although she grew up in an Army family, she never expected to find herself on the front lines. She is fun-loving, her younger sister Nikki says: outgoing, independent and trustworthy—definitely not the kind of person who “stays in front of the TV forever and a day.” Shoshana’s dream was to be a chef, but culinary school costs money, and Army cook was close enough. And it seemed safe enough, too.

But early on the morning of March 23, her father, Claude, was flipping through the channels looking for a cartoon show for Johnson’s 2-year-old daughter, Janelle. He happened to catch a newscast on the Spanish-language network Telemundo. “They said five Americans had been captured in Iraq,” he says. “I caught ‘one African-American female, 30 years old, from the 507th.’ Her name was Shana. I said, ‘It’s got to be her’.”

It was. Now her large extended family, including more than a dozen cousins, are watching and waiting.

Inspired by the relatives of Elizabeth Smart, whose savvy handling of the press helped lead to the return of a 15-year-old kidnapped Utah girl, Shoshana’s relations have appeared all over television and in the newspapers, publicly praying for her release. “I realized media attention is the thing that brought that girl home,” says Shoshana’s aunt Margaret Thorne-Henderson, who has appeared on the “Today” show. “We just want her to be treated humanely,” Nikki told NEWSWEEK, “and to return home swiftly and safely.”

* * * * *

KFOXTV.com

"We Were A Hot Potato" - Spc. Shoshana Johnson

By David Bennallack - KFOX News Director

"We got turned around and then got lost and we rolled into Nasiriyah before it was secure and when we rolled in there was an ambush waiting for us," that's the beginning of a story of courage and survival for El Paso native Shoshana Johnson.

When part of the 507th Maintenance Company rolled into Nasiriyah, Iraq just before dawn on March 23rd, the unit was met with gunfire from every side. 19 507th soldiers were facing an all-out assault, and had little to fight back with. Some of the Ft. Bliss soldiers died where they fell. Shoshana Johnson dove under her truck and was shot - wounded in both ankles, perhaps by the same bullet. Near Johnson were Sgt. James Riley, Specialist Edgar Hernandez, and Specialist Joseph Hudson.

For 15 minutes the battle raged. Then "All our weapons jammed, failed, and people were coming out of the houses with weapons," said Johnson.

"And then we just got overwhelmed."

Sgt. James Riley ordered the surrender. The Ft. Bliss Five threw down the weapons and Iraqis pounded on them, kicking and hitting them with sticks.

Not Johnson. They opened her chemical weapons suit "and noticed I was a female," she said. Then they treated her "very well. I don't know why."

Next stop a Baghdad prison. Where the videotape we all saw on TV was apparently made. Johnson said her interrogators asked her about the locations of American divisions.

"When they finally got that I was only a cook, they started asking me where the food came from, if it was coming from Kuwait," she said, smiling.

Iraqi doctors performed surgery three times on her wounded ankles. "More than once, a doctor said that they wanted to take good care of me to show that the Iraqi people had humanity," Johnson said.

Asked what she thought of that now, she says "I appreciate the care that I was given. But I also know that there was a reason behind it. They didn't give me care just for the humanity of it."

As the coalition forces moved closer to Baghdad, the prisoners were moved.

A half dozen times in the last week. Each time there were new guards. "We were a hot potato," says Johnson "It was getting to the point where I believed they were going to kill us."

And when the U.S. Marines suddenly knocked down the door, there was another moment of concern. "At first they didn't realize I was an American," said Johnson. They quickly realized their mistake and gave her a jumpsuit from one of their light armored vehicles' crewmen, but she held on to her prison pajamas in a brown plastic bag.

"I broke down. I was like, Oh my God, I'm home," said Johnson.

And now Johnson says she has one goal, to be at her own home in El Paso by May 20th - her daughter Janelle's 3rd birthday.

* * * * *

KFOXTV.com

Plans For Official Shoshana Johnson Welcome Home Celebration

Friends And Family Begin To Make Inital Plans For Her Return

"It just worked out beautifully. So we just thought there was divine intervention there," says Claude Johnson.

He attributes Shoshana's return to a strong sense of hope and a lot of faith and prayer. For him the joy of seeing TV and back in S.S. hands is beyond what he can describe.

"I don't know if there are any words in any dictionary any encyclopedia that can describe the feeling when you see her and you realize...oh yeah..it's real. She's alive...she's well," says Johnson.

Well enough to walk on to a military plane, despite several gun shot injuries to her ankles.

Mom receives the good news-- Shana Found!

But up until Sunday's rescue, Johnson says there was a period of uncertainty for his family.

"Oh . . . the period . . . that period from the time we found out that she was a prisoner of war up until the time she came back to us . . . or back in the arms of the u.s. forces, it was extremely stressful," says Johnson.

He says because there was no news about her, so many concerns were going through his head.

"Where is she? What conditions is she living under? What are they doing to her? And that didn't lend for good sleeping at all. I would wake up in the middle of the night with all these thoughts going through my mind," says Johnson.

But those restless nights ended after 3 weeks when Johnson saw his daughter in the company of U.S. marines.

"I was able to get some good sleep, after Sunday. Finally I know that she's safe, she's okay and that she's coming home."

Although there's no official word on when she will come home, Johnson says it was wonderful to hear her voice on Sunday when they got the first phone call from her.

"It was great hearing from her. She got to speak to her daughter...and i think that was just fantastic . . . she started crying and then she ended up laughing, you know because she got to speak to everybody."

Now that she's safe, Johnson says he is just waiting for the day when Shoshana does make it back.

For her official Welcome Home Celebration there is a meeting planned this Thursday, April 17th at 5:30 p.m. inside the El Paso Times Community Room.