By Col. Ron Scott, PhD, USAF ret, USAFA ’73
STARRS President
Tony Lentini’s recent article, “West Point Selectively Censors Information in Violation of Federal Law” is similar to my experience with the USAF Academy.
On July 7, 2020, a classmate alerted me to a 3-minute video produced and published by Air Force Academy football coaches. They took turns chanting “black lives matter” and gave five examples of racial injustice—all false.
The George Floyd incident had just occurred two months earlier, and while sentiment got ugly in the form of destructive and fatal riots nationwide, the coaches should have known better.
The Black Lives Matter organization, which has netted over 83 billion in donations, was founded by three black Marxist-trained women (one or all also lesbian). These women began their crusade in 2013 with the acquittal of George Zimmerman and gained momentum in 2014 with the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, Missouri.
The day after the publication of the football coach video, the Air Force Academy Superintendent released a letter to the Academy family alleging systemic racism in our nation, to include our beloved Academy.
This justified mandating an assessment due to him no later than September 18, 2020.
In October 2020, Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services, Inc. (STARRS) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for a copy of the assessment.
Over two years later, it would take a lawsuit by Judicial Watch on behalf of STARRS to get a federal judge to direct Academy leadership to release the report.
Every page of the 167-page report was inappropriately labeled For Official Use Only (FOUO) to apparently shield it from the public. Fifty-two entire pages were fully redacted. Other redactions occurred on other pages as well.
Of the unredacted material, there was no evidence of racism, let alone systemic racism.
See lawsuit: STARRS v. DOD Air Force Academy complaint 02894
See report: US Air Force Academy Internal Racial Disparity Review
Despite no evidence of racism, during the nearly three years of hiding the report from the public, Academy leadership trained 90 cadets to serve as diversity and inclusion officers and NCOs, two per unit—40 squadrons, 4 groups, and wing.
These cadets wear a purple cord over their left shoulder and report to a separate chain of command. For those of us who served during the Cold War, this scheme is like the political officers in the Soviet military.
The concern many graduates share is that this form of social experimentation not only violates the law in the form of deliberate discrimination but is shaping the Academy’s social and political culture contrary to the principles and values inherent to the American profession of arms.
Two well-researched and documented books that explain these ideological developments (e.g., critical race theory justifies Diversity, Equity and Inclusion praxis) and why they are dangerous are
- Christopher Rufo’s America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything and
- Stanley Ridgley’s Brutal Minds: The Dark World of Left-Wing Brainwashing in Our Universities.
Perhaps the Air Force Academy’s new Superintendent will recognize this danger and do something about it.
After all, the purple ropes are an Air Force Academy program that is divisive and can be eliminated at any time. Thinking positive!!
First published on Real Clear Defense
Judicial Watch Supports STARRS in Suing DOD for Overdue USAFA Records
STARRS finally receives response from USAFA re a 2021 FOIA but 38 out of 48 pages are redacted
Cadets pose for a photo after graduating from the Cadet Wing Diversity and Inclusion Program this summer, allowing them to advise students on diversity at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Each cadet wears a purple rope across their left shoulder symbolizing their position as a diversity representative. (U.S. Air Force Academy photo and caption)
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