Still photos taken from Daily Mask, 1997-2004, 16mm film transferred to video.

Maren Hassinger,  American born 1947. Baltimore Art Museum, 2019

 

 

On February 21, 2025, President Donald Trump fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., born 1962.  

 

 

Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in 2023.Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times

 

 

He has served 40 years.  Distinguished record. 4-star.

Trump made him Chief of  Staff of the Air Force in 2020, upon recommendation.  President Joe Biden made him Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2023. 

 

Trump gave no reason for the firing.  The General was replaced by a retired Lt.-General. 

 

 Also fired were Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy and one other high ranking member of the Air Force.

 

 

 

 

On February 22, 2025, Helene Cooper of The New York Times reported the following about General Brown’s dismissal:

 

 

 

 

‘… privately, Trump advisers point to a video that General Brown recorded in the furious days after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a police officer in May 2020, an act that sparked a social justice movement.

 

‘…General Brown electrified the military rank and file on June 4, 2020, when as Pacific Air Forces commander, he released his four-minute video, which he called, simply, “What I’m thinking about.” 

 

 

 

 

‘“As the commander of Pacific Air Forces, and a senior leader in our Air Force, and an African American, many of you may be wondering what I’m thinking about the current events surrounding the tragic death of George Floyd,” General Brown began. “Here’s what I’m thinking about.”

 

 

 

 

 

‘For four and a half minutes, General Brown would speak, in stark terms, about his life as an African American fighter pilot.

 

“I’m thinking about how full I am with, with emotion, not just for George Floyd, but the many African Americans that suffered the same fate as George Floyd,” he said, a slight tremor underlying his voice.

“I’m thinking about protests in my country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, the equality expressed in our declaration of independence, in the Constitution, that I’ve sworn my adult life to support and defend.”

 

 

 

 

 

‘General Brown spoke of “living in two worlds, both with their own perspectives and views.” He described what those worlds were like for him.

‘He and his sister were the only Black children at his elementary school, he said, and they tried to fit in. In their high school, half of the students were Black and they still tried to fit in.

 

‘“I’m thinking about my Air Force career, where I was often the only African American in my squadron, or, as a senior officer, the only African American in the room,” he said.

 

 

 

 

‘At the time, about 43 percent of the 1.3 million men and women on active duty were people of color, but nearly all of the people making crucial decisions at the top were white and male…

 

‘In his video, General Brown continued: “I’m thinking about wearing the same flight suit, with the same wings on my chest as my peers, and then being questioned by another military member, ‘are you a pilot?’”

 

 

 

 

 

‘He limited his words to his own experience, and reflected on the other world in which he lived, the Black one.

 

‘“I’m thinking about being a captain at the O Club with my squadron, and being told by other African Americans that I wasn’t Black enough, since I was spending more time with my squadron than with them.”

 

 

 

 

 

‘He spoke of how most of his mentors could not relate to his experience as a Black man. He spoke of wondering whether airmen who have not had similar experiences “don’t see racism as a problem because it doesn’t happen to them, or whether they’re empathetic.”

 

 

 

 

 

‘General Brown finished by talking about the weight he felt as the first African American nominated to be chief of the Air Force. Mr. Trump had nominated him for that position, upon …recommendation.

 

 

 

 

‘…But in Mr. Trump’s eyes, one Trump adviser said on Saturday (February 22, 2025) there was no coming back for General Brown after he made his video.

 

 

 

 

 

‘After Mr. Trump took office on Jan. 20, General Brown insisted he would carry out the lawful orders of the president, in words similar to his predecessor…

 

 

 

 

 

‘He was fired anyway.’ 

 

 

 

 

If you are a minority in the United States, when you go out, when you circulate in the world, you must be masked such that the majority need not deal with the particularities of your ethnic status.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a mask far thicker on the soul and the spirit than the mask we all habitually wear. This one is meant to submerge your personal history and the history of your people. 

 

It is meant to induce a kind of intermittent enforced amnesia all round.  It is a racist game: let’s pretend you, the minority, are a cypher, are kind of dead, are a living dead.

 

Current orders which eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs under threat of Federal sanction, are the  Essential MASK rule writ very large.

 

Not wearing this mask can cost you your wellbeing, your livelihood.  Sometimes your life.

 

 

 

 

Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in 2023.Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times

 

 

 

The story about the General is not solely about him.  It is not about any peculiarity of President Trump’s style. 

 

It is about one condition of living for minorities in the United States.  Of no matter what status with rarest exceptions.

Minority entertainers of national and international renown and top-rank athletes are the exception which makes this rule. 

 

This is what the artist, Maren Hassinger, is saying in this video.