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ASSOCIATED PRESSJEFFERSON CITY — TheMissouri Air National Guard’s promotion of Edith Mitchell to brigadier general makes her the guard’s first woman and first black officer to achieve the rank.Mitchell’s promotion was to be made official at ceremony a Saturday by Sen. Jean Carnahan, I)-Mo., and state adjutant general Maj. Gen. John I). Havens.“If I am to be a mentor because of being a first, that’s good,” Mitchell said Friday in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. I am really pleased about the promotion. 1 just try to do my job and do it well.'Hie promotion comes about two months after an independent survev concluded that Missouri national guard supervisors fostered an environment in which women and racial minorities have been passed over for promotions.However, Lt. Tamara Spicer, a spokesman for the national guard, said the survey and Mitchell’s promotion were unrelated.Decisions about promotions of Mitchell’s level are made nationally, not within the state nationalguard, Spicer said.“If you see her biography, you’ll see she’s been working hard for a while, Spicer said of Mitchell. “Her promotion has nothing to do with what’s happened recently in Missouri.Hie survey, by Virginia-based Systems Support and Research Associates, was prompted by an investigation that revealed a black officer was the subject of racial discrimination.Paid for by the national guard, the survey found that many ethnic minorities were dissatisfied with the promotion system.
Newspaper Details
Sedalia Democrat
Sedalia, Missouri, US
Sat, Apr 21, 2001
Page 5
Full Page
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USA 03 Feb 2020
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