We keep seeing the diversity statement that the military should mirror/reflect the racial and gender makeup of the U.S.:
“To increase recruitment and accessions ensuring that the Total Force mirrors the diversity of the U.S. population. . . . “-–Department of Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion Report: Recommendations to Improve Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion in the U.S. Military
“The Air Force set a goal to mirror the population of Americans eligible to serve by race, gender, and ethnicity.” — LtGen. Brian T. Kelly, Deputy Chief of Staff Manpower, Personnel and Services, US Air Force
“The U.S. Air Force values diversity as a “military necessity” (Air Force Instruction [AFI] 36-7001). Yet despite its efforts to create a force that mirrors the racial, ethnic, and gender differences of the nation’s population, . . . ..”–Improving Demographic Diversity in the U.S. Air Force Officer Corps (RAND Report)
“We have to be, in order to succeed, a mirror of the country that we claim to and do defend.”—Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs Alex Wagner
“Diversity and inclusion are an essential part of our society and key to the success of any organization. As such, it is imperative that the composition of our Military Services reflect our Nation’s highly talented, diverse and eligible population.” —DAF memo “Officer Source of Commission Applicant Pool Goals” signed by Secretary of Air Force Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Charles Brown
So considering this is being drummed into everyone, STARRS Chairman Lt. Gen. Rod Bishop, USAF ret, 1974 graduate of the US Air Force Academy, recently wrote this to the USAFA superintendent:
Hi Rich,
I couldn’t help but notice on Saturday that a high percentage of the football players on the USAFA football team are black. (I attribute my noticing that to all the emphasis on race as of late– previously, I just saw USAFA football players.)
The 2020 census says 12% of our population is black and 58% is white.
If we took diversity, equity, and inclusion literally and to “level the playing field”, it would seem the USAFA athletic teams should represent the demographics of the general population.
Of course, the racial mix on our USAFA athletic teams does NOT even roughly reflect the same diversity percentages in the U.S. population–at the exclusion of whites on the football team and blacks on the hockey team.
I think we all know why that is the case– the mission of your coaches is to win games, so they put the best players on the field regardless of race. We all expect that as all of us want the USAFA to win. Skin color is irrelevant.
The same holds true for pro sports where 70-74% of players in pro football and basketball are black. Conversely, ~94% of players on the NHL are white.
Why is this so? Again, the mission of pro sports teams is to win so coaches put the best players on the field, regardless of skin color. That is expected and good.
Athletic teams are a great example of meritocracy where the best qualified are fielded to win, regardless of their race.
The consequences of losing a game are perhaps a loss of money and league standings.
Whereas in our military, the consequences of not selecting the best qualified to fill key positions and lead our sons and daughters in combat are losing a battle or a war where tremendous losses to life and destruction could occur.
The above is one of many reasons STARRS has emphasized “meritocracy” over DEI as DEI clearly promotes the opposite of merit. (The Canadians as you may know, call it EDI, recognizing “diversity” and “inclusion” are both “in support” of (and subservient to) “equity.”)
It is government cooking the books to ensure equal outcomes–not equal opportunity for all--which of course we all know was the promise of our American dream.
Was it taking us a while to get there? You bet–almost 200 years from the Declaration of Independence to the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s and we were still making steady progress until….enter the Marxist based CRT/DEI with the intent of sewing division.
Unfortunately, it is working as cadets tell us the instruction is “demotivating” and “divisive” with minority cadets calling it “demeaning.”
And, oh by the way–saying “USAFA teaches CRT” (and adding “we also teach American exceptionalism”) as the Dean and Professor Garcia have admitted, just doesn’t seem to be truthful.
I have yet to encounter a cadet who knows who Herbert Marcuse or Derrick Bell are, knows where and why and when the Marxist Frankfurt School came to the US, etc.
Hard to imagine any course curriculum would not include these major characters or the school of thinking from which these theories emanated in “teaching CRT.”
Roots, lineage, history and intent of CRT would just have to be part of the course of instruction if USAFA was actually teaching CRT.
That is why we say “USAFA is NOT teaching CRT–you are just indoctrinating cadets in its Marxist-based tenets.”
If you disagree–would love to hear your explanation.
Before CRT/DEI, certainly in our military (which was often described as “leading society” in integration and some of the social issues of the day) we had made tremendous progress in addressing the issue of race.
Meritocracy was battle tested in our military as the absolute best model for success. (Relatedly, I never cared what skin color my copilot or wingman had–and I would bet you didn’t either.)
So now one has to ask, why is meritocracy being rejected for the political Marxist ideology of DEI where people are given preferences based on their race, gender, ethnicity, sex orientation, etc.?
Unfortunately, this practice goes beyond just the “leadership laboratories” of our military academies, with many “discriminatory practices” appearing across all the Services from promotions to assignments.
I would hope you agree it is hypocritical on one hand to insist on the best players for our sport teams, but be satisfied with less than the best when it comes to leading our military.
Why persist in advocating a dangerous Marxist DEI ideology when meritocracy with equal opportunity for all is proven and battle tested?
We know meritocracy wins sports games; it also wins wars.
DEI loses and that can be easily proven by using diversity, inclusion, and equity to field our football team. The losses of games that would ensue would cause a massive backlash that no Falcon fan would want to endure.
Meritocracy wins, DEI loses.
Don’t believe me–ask the people you are leading. Best guess from a wide sampling of cadets who have been asked the question of “acceptance of this ideology” is you have about 20% buy in. Continuing the “instruction” is really just continuing the indoctrination.
So why not really teach CRT? It’s roots, history, lineage and intent? You would be doing everyone a service–especially our future leaders.
All would have a better understanding on why the theory of CRT is certainly NOT grounded in our Judeo-Christian roots as a nation.
R, Rod
Leave a Comment