Major General Marcia M. Anderson was honored with the Benjamin L. Hooks Distinguished Service award Tuesday night at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s, (NAACP) Armed Services & Veterans Affairs Dinner at the Grand Ballroom of the George R. Brown Convention Center.

A St. Louis native, Anderson became the first African American woman to earn the rank of Major General in the United States Army Reserve.

“I’m very proud to receive this award and I’m going to use this award to continue my upmost to make the [military] organization that I love very much to move forward,” said Anderson.“ I still have much to do.”

One of Anderson’s goals is to increase diversity within the military which has dropped across the board for all minorities.

“It’s extremely important that you demand that an institution as large and powerful as the military represent the diversity as our nation,” Anderson said. “If the military does not reflect its people, then things can happen in our democracy, and I’d had for that to happen to this country.”

According to Anderson, the reason for the lack of diversity within the military possibly streams from the experience many Americans had during the Vietnam War.

“Unfortunately older members of our community still do not trust or believe in diversity or that they have the best interest of soldiers,” explained Anderson who sees herself as the perfect example of what diversity in the military can achieve. “I’m trying to combat that and let people know that it’s not a perfect organization, but there are sincere efforts to remedy that.”

This is where the military goals line up with the NAACP according to Anderson.

“Just as with the NAACP; we strive to have people in the service to be judged on the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin,” Anderson said.