Washington, D.C.
July 25, 2023
Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you, [Deputy Assistant Secretary] Julian [Purdy], for that kind introduction.
And thank you to the Department’s Veterans' Employment and Training Service team, as well as our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility team for bringing us all together on such an important anniversary.
It is such an honor to be with you all today to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the United States Armed Forces.
Today, we celebrate 75 years since President Truman signed an executive order abolishing segregation in the Armed Forces and ordering full integration of all branches of the United States military.
And we also honor the tremendous dedication, tenacity, and patriotism of Black American service personnel, without whom the Armed Services could not have accomplished this historic order.
I don’t need to tell anyone here today that throughout our history, Black Americans have fought tirelessly to defend our freedoms – from the very founding of our nation to the Civil War, from the trenches of two World Wars to Korea and to Vietnam, and from Afghanistan to Iraq.
But for too long, Black Americans stepped forward to protect our country, even when our country didn’t offer full protections to them.
Many made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our rights and our freedoms abroad, even when they were refused access to the full spectrum of rights and freedoms back at home.
And the 1.2 million Black veterans who served their country during World War II came home to find themselves excluded from the G.I. Bill’s benefits – and for many, the doors shut to home ownership.
In the midst of it all, these brave women and men never stopped fighting for the founding ideals upon which our nation was founded—liberty, equality, fairness.
So today, I’m thinking of people like Major Oleta Crain.
In 1943, during World War II, she became one of three Black women to enter officer training for the U.S. Army.
During training, Major Crain and her company faced constant discrimination. They were barred from the barracks and forced to sleep in other rooms. They were told their voices were too high and their steps too short after their marching drills. And they were even given the run-around at the segregated pool where they needed to train; somehow the pool schedules would always seem to change at the last minute.
At some point, Major Crain said, you know, enough is enough. At great risk to her own career, she demanded fair treatment and she successfully persuaded her commander to end the pool’s segregation.
Now, she fought and won that battle five years before President Truman’s executive order.
After the war ended, Major Crain was the only Black woman officer retained by the military.
In 1963, she retired from active duty and the next year, I’m so proud to say, Oleta Crain joined our very own Department of Labor, where she spent the rest of her career.
Eventually, Oleta became a regional administrator for the Women’s Bureau – where she continued her fight to empower women, especially Black women, and to advocate for their employment rights.
Her incredible story inspires and informs the work we do today.
And so, it is fitting that the Women’s Bureau continues her fight to ensure equitable access to the good jobs being created today for all women, including Black women, women of color, and other traditionally marginalized communities.
We owe Major Oleta Crain – and all veterans – a deep debt of gratitude.
But too often, our veterans only get lip service or empty platitudes.
Well, that’s not enough.
We need to make sure that our veterans and service members get equitable access to opportunities when they hang up the uniform too.
That means renewing our commitment to serving our veterans as well as they have served us.
Here at the Department of Labor, we take that commitment personally.
Last year, in Fiscal Year 2022, we hired 667 veterans to our team – nearly 33 percent of new hires. Today, veterans make up nearly a quarter of the Department’s overall workforce. That’s compared to 5.5 percent of the American workforce overall.
And we depend on them for the unique skills and perspectives that they bring to our work– in the same way that Oleta Crain’s colleagues depended on her.
At the Department of Labor, we know that equity and excellence go hand in hand – as study after study confirms, diverse organizations are stronger, more innovative, and better at problem-solving.
The road to that diversity isn’t always smooth but Oleta Crain’s story, her career, and her service is proof positive that America is safer and better when we recognize that our diversity is our strength.
But we also know that we have more work to do on this front.
Today, many service members still return home to face enormous barriers to receiving the resources they need, and those barriers are even greater for Black veterans.
So we’ve got more work to do. And that work has to be intentional, in order to get Black veterans equitable access to the support they need and to get them connected to the benefits they’ve earned.
And I know our Veterans Employment and Training Service, or VETS, team is leading that essential work.
Together, we’re building equity into everything we do as we help veterans translate the valuable skills they developed during service into meaningful employment and as we get them connected to career coaching, registered apprenticeships, and good, family-sustaining jobs.
So thank you for all you are doing, and continue to do, to ensure that veterans return from service to the support and resources they are owed.
We’re all so excited to hear more about that important work today.
And now, I’ll turn it over to Alaysia Black Hackett, the Department’s Chief Diversity and Equity Officer.
Thank you.