The Colorado Springs Gazette did a front-page story on the work of STARRS:
By Mary Shinn | Colorado Springs Gazette
A national nonprofit that got its start in Colorado Springs and set out to see diversity, equity and inclusion purged from the military has seen its goals largely achieved in recent weeks.
The military has put those working in DEI on leave and ended all formal programs, such as mandatory DEI training and the Air Force’s goals to achieve greater diversity in its officer applicant pools.
Last week, the Air Force Academy confirmed affinity clubs, such as Spectrum, its LGBTQ+ club, and Way of Life, a group for Black cadets, are under review for compliance under the executive order ending DEI programs.
Additionally, some documentation about DEI programs and studies on racial disparities in the military have been pulled from official websites.
While the city of Baltimore and other groups have challenged the presidential executive orders to end DEI, some of the military’s orders came down before the lawsuit was filed.
“I think some of us feel vindicated,” said retired Col. Ron Scott, president and CEO of Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services or STARRS.
Scott, an Air Force Academy graduate and a founder of the group, believes DEI programs have roots in Marxist values.
While the ideas of communism were originally grounded in classism, and the rich oppressing the poor, those ideas morphed over time in America to focus on race-based conflict and teaching non-White people they are victims, Scott said.
Since Jan. 20, President Donald Trump acted on both of STARRS’ main priorities, ending DEI programs and providing remedies for those who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Trump has offered those former service members the opportunity to rejoin with backpay.
A former leader with STARRS and a Newsmax contributor, Matthew Lohmeier, has been nominated to become the next undersecretary of the Air Force, a position responsible for overseeing the branch’s personnel and people.
Lohmeier was previously fired as commander with the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Space Force Base after expressing his concerns about DEI and the connection he sees to Marxism.
He appeared on a podcast as part of promoting his book “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military.”
At the same time veterans and proponents of diversity, like Kathryn L. Smith, also an academy graduate and a Black woman, are appalled by recent steps.
“They want to make the argument that DEI brings in people who aren’t qualified,” she said. “When it just opens the door to show people what’s possible.”
DEI programs in military have used different tactics. Some efforts were focused on ensuring recruitment messages reach all qualified candidates.
Other efforts have focused on ensuring the right gear, such as body armor, is available for different body types and cockpits are designed to accommodate shorter people. Some have focused on accommodating different grooming standards.
For example, the Air Force started allowing female airmen to wear their hair in ponytails to relieve headaches and prevent baldness.
Scott said his group is concerned about race playing a role in decisions, such as promoting individuals, and they want the military to focus on merit, a message also being disseminated by new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Manya Whitaker, interim president of Colorado College, who has experience working on anti-racism issues, noted that measuring merit needs to take into account the barriers people faced.
“If we eliminate DEI … White men will go back to having a head start over women and people of color,” Whitaker said.
BLM video sparks STARRS
The anti-DEI work started for Scott when he was at home during the pandemic in July 2020 and came across a video on The Gazette featuring Air Force Academy football coaches supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Scott, an Air Force Academy graduate, said he was embarrassed and shocked by the video.
“The Air Force Academy should not get political,” he said.
The video inspired him to write a blog post where he pointed out the coaches referenced historical wrongs against Black people that are long over, including the era of Jim Crow laws and the practice of denying homes to people in certain areas, a practice known as red-lining, ended in the 1960s.
That same week, academy Superintendent Gen. Jay Silveria sent out a letter about systematic racism in America and how the academy planned to study it internally.
Both incidents sparked Scott’s interest in DEI in the military and he began to trace its origins.
An early effort started during President Barack Obama’s administration when the Military Leadership Diversity Commission was started to help correct the underrepresentation of minorities among flag officers.
“How do you do that without discriminating?” Scott asked. “You can’t.”
Scott shared his findings, including his first blog post, with fellow former longtime officers and they formalized their effort to fight DEI in the military in April 2021 when STARRS became a formal nonprofit.
He credits the group’s effectiveness to the experience of the board and advisors. The group has leaders in 30 states who lead on-the-ground efforts.
Diversity among officers
The 2023 report on military demographics found that 66.6% of all enlisted military members are White, 19.5% are Black, 6.3% are Asian, with the remaining members identifying as other minorities. The percentage of those who identify as Hispanic is measured separately and they make up about 20% of the enlisted force.
Among officers 74.5% are White, 9.2% are Black, 8.3% are multiracial, 3.7% are Asian and the remaining identifying as other races.
As officers rise in rank the percentage of White representation rises. In 2020, Trump appointed the first Black man to lead any service branch. Gen. Charles Q Brown, the former chief of staff of the Air Force, is now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s goals set in August 2022 had targeted increasing the diversity of its officer applicate pools to 13% Black, 10% Asian, 1.5% Native American or Alaskan Native and 1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The goals also targeted an officer corps that is 15% Hispanic.
AFA graduate Smith said the minorities are underrepresented among flag officers because those competing for the positions need sponsors, and people mentor and guide others like themselves.
There are several ways to correct this, Smith said, including taking racial and gender identifiers off promotion materials, ensuring that women and people of color are tied into unofficial networks that lead to advancement, and ensuring they can attend senior service schools.
In 2020, the military stopped requiring photos in promotional packets to reduce bias.
Combat medals and operational experiences also help with promotion, and so now that women participate in combat they will have more opportunity to get promoted.
“They want to argue that 70-plus years of discrimination should not be corrected,” Smith said.
At the Academy in particular, DEI education was aimed at preparing officers to lead people from diverse cultures and backgrounds, she said.
Smith also said she worries that ending social programs that promote community, such as Spectrum, an LGBTQ+ plus group, could create retention problems for the Air Force Academy.
“What’s so wrong with telling a gay cadet they can serve openly?” she said.
The U.S. is on a path to greater racial diversity, with 52.7% children in the United States under 18 belonging to a minority group, according an analysis of census data by a University of New Hampshire demographer.
Scott says he has no tolerance for racism or discrimination, but that everyone should strive to assimilate to American culture.
He pointed to the NFL as the model for the spirit the military should follow. On the field, race is not a consideration, only skill and the potential to win.
“We are supposed to win, too, but the ultimate game,” Scott said, referring to war.
In 2003, the NFL instituted the Rooney Rule, requiring teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching positions. It’s been expanded to include other positions, such as general manager.
But in preparation for the Super Bowl in February, the league removed the “End Racism” slogan from its end zone. The NFL began using that slogan in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd.
Lohmeier headed for leadership
Lohmeier approached STARRS while he was still an active duty officer because he thought it might benefit from some of his research, Scott said.
Lohmeier dove into Marxism during his time at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies in the Air Force.
STARRS brought him on after the Space Force fired him and Scott said he thought Lohmeier would eventually lead the organization.
In 2024, Lohmeier was asked to testify in front of a congressional subcommittee and shared his experiences as an officer at Buckley with the DEI trainings.
“I watched these trainings divide our troops ideologically and, in some cases, sow the seeds of animosity towards the very country they had sworn an oath to defend,” he said, in his written testimony.
In an official complaint he filed about the DEI trainings, Lohmeier said he was concerned the base commander encouraged troops to watch the documentaries “The Uncomfortable Truth” and “13th,” on racism.
The base also organized groups to talk about racism and encouraged leaders to read articles and books about marginalized groups.
In the small group discussions, Lohmeier said in his complaint participants were asked questions such as:
“Have you ever witnessed anyone being treated unfairly because of their racial or ethnic identity? In the Air Force? If so, how did you respond? How did it make you feel?”
Lohmeier raised the alarm about these trainings after Trump banned them in the federal government in September 2020.
In a statement on X on Jan. 17, Trump said Lohmeier would bring his experience as a fighter pilot, Space Force squadron commander and Air Force Academy graduate to the job as undersecretary. He also keyed in on his anti-DEI stance.
Lohmeier will work “to end the devastating ‘woke’ policies that have destroyed our military,” Trump wrote.
The former Space Force officer’s confirmation hearing has yet to be scheduled, but Trump’s nominees have received a positive reception from the Senate.
While STARRS’ goals have apparently been achieved, Scott said the group will remain active to monitor the military’s progress.
The Gazette’s O’Dell Isaac contributed to this report.
First published in the Colorado Springs Gazette
The Gazette included in the article a copy of the complaint Matt Lohmeier filed over the DEI trainings at Buckley Space Force Base:
18NOV20 MFR Lohmeier (pdf)
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