Santa Clarita, California – Veterans United raised concerns today following a California legislative Zoom briefing on Senate Bill 694, where Black and minority veterans reported being silenced or asked to leave after organizers asserted the issue was “not a minority issue.”

The briefing, which included Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo and Senator Bob Archuleta, drew roughly 80 participants, largely made up of legacy Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs), their members, and lobbyists. Independent veterans, including women veterans and veterans of color, said they were moderated, publicly chastised, or excluded when they raised concerns or challenged the dominant narrative.

“This was not an open discussion,” said Tara Jones, a veteran and Founder of the National Women Veterans Association of America. “When concerns were raised, they were dismissed as attempts to ‘make it about race.’ That doesn’t erase the lived experience of veterans of color, like me - it silences us."

Veterans reported that the discussion was framed as a binary “good versus bad” debate and that individuals identified as opposing the bill were explicitly asked to leave the meeting. Veterans United is calling for a release of a recording of the meeting.

Sky Ainsworth, Ret. U.S. Army, who attended the briefing, said, “I attended in good faith as a veteran seeking clarity, not to disrupt, yet I was not allowed to speak, and those who opposed the bill were asked to leave entirely.

”Veterans United is calling for a release of the recording of the meeting, stating that veterans across California deserve to know how the sponsors of this legislation are gatekeeping access to the VA and circling the wagons to protect a broken system that disproportionately disenfranchises minority and rural veterans.