IVAW’s Lennox Yearwood, Jr.

Lennox Yearwood, Jr. calls himself “Reverend” but I can’t find a church where he ministers. He calls himself a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve, but I can’t find a record. There are volumes about him on the internet, for example, on Wikipedia, that wax endlessly about his “activism”, but hardly mention his military service. When it suits him, he mentions it, but only as a shield. Here’s his profile at IVAW;

I didn’t request his records because it probably wouldn’t be worth my time. Even if he has never been in the Air Force, he’s a dope and not worth bothering the folks at POW Net. Like most IVAW members these days, Yearwood is not an Iraq veteran. The only reason I can find for this shortcoming is in his own words from a page on the IVAW website;

On July 1, 2007 I sought the support of regular Americans after receiving notification from the U.S. Air Force Reserve that they were threatening to discharge me on the basis of behavior that, in their words, is “clearly inconsistent with the interest of national security.” The behavior in question is my outspoken opposition to the occupation of Iraq and the inadequate and inhuman response to the tragedy of Katrina.

As a result of the outpouring of support I received from all over the United States and from around the world, the Air Force backed down. Thanks to my brothers and sisters in the movement, I will end my service with the honorable discharge that I earned. I am eternally grateful, and evermore committed to taking on the powers that be for the powers that ought to be.

At first, when I informed the Air Force that I would fight their harassment, they threatened me with deployment to Iraq, or even prison time. Then with the tremendous circulation and widespread publishing of my first Open Letter, the Air Force realized if they were going to challenge me, they would have to challenge thousands of Americans from across the nation outside of Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia, on my hearing date.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure the Air Force backed down because of a public outcry. More than likely, they didn’t figure he was worth the trouble. He is a proven drama queen.

In September 2007, Yearwood tried to force his way into the General Petreaus hearing and he was promptly tackled and shackled by several Capitol Police officers.

Here’s the competing accounts from his Wikipedia entry;

According to Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, spokeswoman for the Capitol Police, Yearwood was stopped from entering the room after allegedly attempting to cut in front of people waiting to get in. “What he tried to do was jump to the front of the line. He was told he couldn’t do that,” Schneider said. “And he pretty much charged at the officers to get past them into the room, after he was told not to.”

In a press release from the Hip Hop Caucus Yearwood said that he was prevented from entering the hearing because he was wearing a button that says “I love the people of Iraq.”

Yeah, it was the button. In this video of the event, you can see an IVAW member right before him in complete IVAW regalia (I think it’s Kokesh, but I’m not sure) enter the hearing room. Yearwood gets tackled at about 1:25 into the vid.

Regardless of whether he jumped line or not, he clearly charged the police and tried to force his way past them into the hearing. He continued to whine, and wrote this on the IVAW website;

It is just incredible that as a peace activist, a former Chaplain candidate in the Air Force Reserve, and a Minister, I would be treated so disrespectfully in the halls of Congress.

Yeah, he avoided service in Iraq, but he pulls out that “former Chaplain candidate in the Air Force Reserve” pretty damn fast – reminds me of…well, about everyone of those Board members of the IVAW. In case you’re wondering why he wanted to go to the Petreaus hearing, here’s a quote from an interview he did with the misnamed “Democracy Now“;

“I knew that when officers lie, soldiers die,”

Yeah, because he was an officer, right?

So why my sudden interest in Yearwood? Well, American Spectator‘s Matthew Vadden wrote an article entitled “Obama’s Plan to Desecrate 9/11” about the Obama Administration’s plan to eradicate the meaning of September 11th by naming it the “National Day of Service” – and SURPRISE Yearwood is involved in it.

From the Environment News Service;

In response to the President’s call to service through the United We Serve campaign, Green the Block issued a call to action for green community service projects in underserved communities on September 11, the National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Cabinet members EPA Administrator Jackson, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Department of Energy Under Secretary Kristina Johnson attended the event at the White House.

They were joined by Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr., president of the Hip Hop Caucus; Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of the nonprofit Green For All; and leaders of the new Green the Block campaign.

So the reverend with no church, the Air Force chaplain “candidate” with no discernible record, the member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War who has never been to Iraq, is more than willing to erase 9-11 from our national memory.

More on National Service Day at Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Usual Suspects