About Michael McPhearson

Currently residing in Seattle, Washington, Michael T. McPhearson was the executive director of Veterans For Peace from October 2013 to June 2019. He is a founding co-chair of the Don’t Shoot Coalition in Saint Louis, MO. Don’t Shoot was organized in the aftermath of Michael Brown, Jr.’s murder.

August 2010 to September 2013, Michael worked as the National Coordinator with United For Peace and Justice. He is a former board member of Veterans For Peace and as well as Executive Director from 2005 to 2010. He worked closely with the Newark based People’s Organization for Progress and Saint Louis centered Organization for Black Struggle. Michael also publishes MTMDaily.com expressing his views on war and peace, politics, human rights, race, and other things.

In 1981 at the age of 17, Michael joined the Army Reserve as an enlisted soldier and attended basic training the summer between his junior and senior high school years. He is an ROTC graduate of Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina with a B.S. degree in Sociology. A native of Fayetteville North Carolina, Michael and was a field artillery officer in the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during Desert Shield /Desert Storm, also known as Gulf War I.

Michael’s military career includes six years of reserve and five years of active duty service. He separated from active duty in 1992 as a Captain. During his time in the Army, he held numerous positions, attended Airborne School and received several awards. As a civilian, he has held positions with various profit and not-for-profit entities such as the card company Hallmark Marketing, Vincent Metal Goods, then the largest distributor of stainless steel in the United States, KWMU a nonprofit public radio station, the human relations not-for-profit National Conference for Community and Justice and as executive director of the not-for-profit Veterans For Peace.

He has been an active member of the Greater Saint Louis Association of Black Journalist, the American Civil Liberties Union, Military Families Speak Out and Veterans For Peace. He served on the Executive Committee of the St. Louis Branch of the NAACP and the Steering Committee of the Bring Them Home Now campaign.

Michael’s son joined the Army in January 2004 and served one tour in Iraq in 2005-2006. He separated from the military in 2007.

In December of 2003, Michael returned to Iraq as part of a peace delegation to examine the state of the occupation firsthand. He has spoken all over the U.S. to small gatherings and large crowds. He has also traveled to Istanbul Turkey and Bologna Italy as a speaker on the U.S. peace movement and world peace.

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