U.S. Army Private LaVena Johnson was found shot to death inside a burning tent with a broken nose, black eyes, broken teeth and acid burns on her genitals in July 2005, on Balad Military Base in Iraq. The U.S. Army investigated this case and ruled her death as a suicide by gunfire from an M-16. Her father disagreed, particularly after seeing her body in the funeral home. It is believed that the acid burns were created to hide evidence of sexual assault. She was 19 years old. There is a clear trend of sexual assault victims in the military being harmed or otherwise convinced not to speak out about what they have suffered. LaVena did not get the justice she deserves.

In a time where we are fighting racial injustices around the world, it is important to include black women in the search for fair trials. Consider signing this petition to get the case re-opened and investigated by either the United States Army of the Cold Case Investigations Research Institute of Philadelphia.

The previous petition for the reinvestigation of LaVena’s case closed with 37,000 signatures. Let’s make this petition as high profile as the others so that it can be seen by the Department of Defense. At the very least, this case should be reported on by major news sources who have previously backed away from reports on the case.
For more information, consider watching the documentary from Midtown films, called "LaVena Johnson-The Silent Truth" it was screened at Webster University in St. Louis MO (2010).