Editorial

A great disservice to our veterans

Posted 5/23/23

Memorial Day weekend 2023 is at hand. It’s a time when we honor our nation’s war dead in solemn ceremonies that date back to the time of the Civil War. It’s also a time when many …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in
Editorial

A great disservice to our veterans

Posted

Memorial Day weekend 2023 is at hand. It’s a time when we honor our nation’s war dead in solemn ceremonies that date back to the time of the Civil War. It’s also a time when many veterans appear at these events wearing the colors of their local veterans’ organization, like the American Legion or their local VFW Post. Many others will proudly don the uniform worn during their active duty days. That’s when we turn to them and thank them for their service to our nation.

The plight of America’s military veterans tugs at our collective heartstrings. Many were wounded in combat, others face untold hardships at home as a result of their service. Yet those who made that ultimate sacrifice would likely recoil in horror at the notion that their comrades in arms were used in some sort of political game.

That’s exactly what happened last week. By now we know the story of Sharon Toney-Finch whose Montgomery-based Yerik Israel Toney (YIT) Foundation provides for homeless Veterans. In the height of the frenzy over the placement of asylum seekers at a Town of Newburgh hotel, Toney-Finch made the now-debunked claim that 20 homeless veterans had been booted out of the hotel to make room for them. Later media accounts reported that Toney-Finch recruited several homeless men from a shelter in Poughkeepsie and allegedly offered them food and money to pose as YIT-assisted veterans who were kicked out of their lodging by the newly arrived migrants.

But the damage had been done. Many media outlets, including the New York Post ran with the story, sparking more anti-immigrant furor. Assemblyman Brian Maher (R-Walden), a Navy reservist, introduced legislation to “prohibit the displacement of homeless veterans once placed in housing so long as they continue to meet any necessary criteria.”

“While I have empathy toward the migrants who are being used as political pawns, it is unconscionable that veterans in need are being so callously cast aside in this crisis,” said Maher in a press release. The same press release also quoted State Senator Rob Rolison (R-Poughkeepsie) who said: “I’m proud to stand with Assemblyman Maher and our friend Sharon Toney-Finch to oppose the unconscionable treatment of those who have fought to keep us free.”

Now, though, it seems that the veterans are the ones being used as political pawns. Maher later sought to distance himself from Toney-Finch and joined the call for the State Attorney General to investigate the organization and his onetime friend.

Somewhere this weekend, a Memorial Day speaker will remind us of the sacrifices made by our military so that all of us can enjoy our freedoms. Those brave men and women are owed an apology.