Photo By Staff Sgt. Megan Shepherd | Senior Airman Carmyn Clay, a Security Forces member from the 179th Airlift Wing,...... read more read more
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Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time to recognize the immeasurable effects they have had on the history of the United States.
“Observing black history to me means paying homage to the people that came before us, for even giving us this opportunity to be here,” said Senior Airman Carmyn Clay, a security forces member at the 179th Airlift Wing, Mansfield, Ohio. “We weren’t able to be in positions like this back in the day. As women and women of color, to even be in the Guard, wasn’t seen or heard of.”
Clay said it really makes her appreciate the people who paved the way and did whatever they had to, by any means necessary, to make these opportunities available.
When you look at the overall perspective of things, it is very important to push diversity. It is important to have diverse people and ideas.
“When you have people from all different backgrounds, who understand things differently, that’s when you have a successful work flow and a successful work force,” said Clay.
She attended John F. Kennedy High School, Cleveland, Ohio, and then went to the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, where she started pursuing her bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology with a minor in Arabic. She also wants to go back to school to get her master’s degree in clinical psychology.
Clay was motivated to join the Guard when she saw a flyer for the Air National Guard as a freshman at Akron and saw an opportunity to serve her country while getting an education.
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I knew that I wanted to finish school and I wanted to be an effective person in my community,” said Clay. “I saw the opportunities that it would give me, and I was like, I think this is something that I might want to be a part of,” said Clay.
Clay plans on continuing her career in the Air Guard. She has been in for four years currently and she plans on reenlisting and hopefully becoming a recruiter. She eventually wants to become a commissioned officer, after she finishes school.
“It has been a great opportunity for meeting new people, building up my confidence and building me as a person,” said Clay. “It’s definitely something I want to continue in and will definitely push others to do.”
Some of the difficulties that she has dealt with from being in the military was missing her family, because she is a very family-oriented person.
“It might seem unimportant, but I have had to miss a lot of births, birthdays, college graduations, which is especially a big deal when you come from a family where this is the first generation graduating high school and college, very big milestones,” said Clay.
Another challenge is the fact that people have biases that they don’t even know they have. It’s part of being human.
“You have to work ten times harder than everybody else just to get to the same place and in order to prove you’re not a stereotype or a statistic,” said Clay. “I made it here for a reason because I have a lot to offer, I just want to be given that chance.”
Clay said the diversity push in the Guard, has given her opportunities that she would not have had otherwise.
“Being an African American, when you come into the Guard, you kind of already have a family inside of a family,” said Clay. “It’s easy to connect with people like yourself, because they already know what you’re going through and know how you’re feeling because they’ve experienced it.”
A lack of diversity becomes a big issue when one person is expected to be the spokesperson for the black community, having to speak for others because he or she is the only one in the room. That person doesn’t necessarily know all the answers and doesn’t want to misrepresent someone.
“Sometimes when you’re the only one in the room and all eyes are on you, you stick out and you feel uncomfortable even though no one is trying to make you feel uncomfortable, you just feel a little bit out of place,” said Clay.
Clay wants to be part of breaking the glass ceiling, in both her civilian life and in the military. Hopefully, being one of the first in her family to graduate with a bachelor’s and a master’s, eventually commissioning in the military. She wants to be that example.
“I want to be able to show people, ‘if she can do it, I can do it’,” said Clay.
Clay said she has definitely seen a push for diversity. It’s a slow slope of change, but it’s definitely getting there.
“These people are here to support you and help you on your career path, on the civilian side and in the Guard,” said Clay. “The sense of community that I’ve gained, having people around me to push me, show me what to do, show me right vs. wrong, has led me to be the Airman that I am today.”
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.28.2019 17:08 |
| Story ID: | 312329 |
| Location: | MANSFIELD, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 108 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 179th Airlift Wing Celebrates Black History Month, by SSgt Megan Shepherd, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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