First Lieutenant Ize Alimi is the second Muslim African-American first lieutenant with a previously exemplary record facing discharge from the Army at Fort Polk, Louisiana. This stands in sharp contrast with a March 2020 Officer Evaluation Report (OER) recommendation that he be promoted to captain. And that, in turn reminds us that discrimination in the military hurts the military as well as those being discriminated against.
Alimi’s case is in some ways even more striking than that of First Lt. Khadijah X, who was accused of posing a terrorist threat after she changed her last name from Simmons to X (my Salon story here). But both reflect the same underlying reality, described by Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which is representing both of them.
"Tragically, there exists inside the Department of Defense (DoD) an unconstitutionally pervasive and pernicious pattern and practice of systemic anti-Islamic oppression at all levels of the chain of command.” Weinstein said in a press release. “1Lt. Ize Alimi is another victim of this evil as is 1Lt Khadijah X. What generally fuels this unbridled hatred, bigotry and prejudice within DoD is fundamentalist Christian nationalism, supremacy, exceptionalism and exclusivity."
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