Diversity engineers at the Naval Academy
Well, this puts a perfect exclamation point on my diversity column: Look at the p.c. pretzel that the Naval Academy twisted itself into in order to try and engineer picture-perfect diversity among its color guard:
Leaders of the U.S. Naval Academy tinkered with the composition of the color guard that appeared at a World Series game last month so the group would not be exclusively white and male.
Accounts differ as to who was added to or removed from the Oct. 29 color guard. But the net result was that one of the six who marched on Yankee Stadium’s field, Midshipman 2nd Class Hannah Allaire, was selected because her presence would make the service academy look more diverse before a national audience.
The incident has captured the attention of the Annapolis campus and stirred up the broader community of alumni and military observers, who see it as part of a campaign to bring more racial and sexual diversity to the academy. Diversity is a sensitive point at the Naval Academy, an institution that has been accused by some faculty members and alumni of forsaking fairness in its quest to build a brigade that mirrors the nation as a whole.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, elevated diversity to a “strategic imperative” during his tenure as chief of naval operations. Academy leaders, on their official Web site, call diversity “our highest personnel priority.”
That thinking reflects “a sea change, in that this initiative was generated from within the military, rather than imposed from without by civilian overseers,” said retired Marine Maj. Gen. Thomas Wilkerson, an academy alumnus and chief executive of the U.S. Naval Institute, an independent think tank. Some alumni, he said, “have voiced concerns that it will happen at the expense of quality and combat readiness.”
Ding, ding, ding!
La Shawn Barber at ACRI has more on the efforts to cover the whole p.c. kerfuffle up:
I’m sure you’ve heard about colleges removing white faces from brochures and catalogs and photoshopping in blacks or women for “diversity.” Comical.
It seems the Naval Academy performed some real-life photoshopping. Academy leaders removed two white men from the color guard line-up for a performance at the recent World Series and replaced them with a “non-white” man and a white woman for purposes of diversity. (Source)
But here’s the twist: the “non-white” man forgot part of his uniform and had to be replaced. The line-up was all-white, anyway, and the Naval Academy ended up with bad PR.
Other midshipmen and alumni complained about the apparent diversity shuffle. After the requisite he said/he said exchanges, where an academy spokesman denied that the school pulled the men because they were white, despite a press release apparently contradicting him, brigade commanders issued a gag order forbidding midshipmen to talk about the controversy to outsiders.
Diana West connects the dots between the Naval Academy photo flap and Fort Hood: The same cult of diversity is at work. This is how it metastasizes.
I repeat: P.C.-paralyzed America, heal thyself.
***
CDR Salamander has been all over this story. Go here for all the background links and more.
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This is how it metastasizes. Yes, the nation needs some radical, moral radiation therapy to kill this cancer. The sooner the better.
Guess they are getting primed for service to do the ‘pc’ thing. If our military has to be ‘pc’ on every aspect of what is happening, they will spend 18 hours a day making ‘everyone’ happy.
L
Uniform is an interesting word. I presume that soldiers wear it to establish uniformity. Maybe our armed forces should abandon uniforms to advance diversity….maybe they should wear street clothes and look like thugs….maybe we need gangs.
Maybe these recent events, like the Obama Presidency, will return our nation back to its senses. Military leadership whose focus is proection of the country, and national leaders who respect the Constitution. Most importantly, Americans who are Americans first,not hyphenated Americans.
Did our gov’t lose track of the purpose of our military?
I don’t care what color our fighting machines come in. Anything but ‘green’.
I recall that in the 1998 state elections in Connecticut, the Dems realized that they had an all white panel of candidates, so they sold out Frank A. Lecce (an Italian American) for Denise Nappier (a black woman).
“Air cover, we need air cover now!”
Sorry, we only have white pilots available…”
Does the Navy realize the color in color guard does not refer to the skin tone of the guards?
Makes perfect sense. The Commander in Chief got to where he is through diversity – why not the troops?
I am willing to change my mind when I see the college apps and transcripts.
He was always forgetting parts of his uniform, but that is not his fault, somebody always forgets to wake him up in time. Just another example of the white devils trying to keep a brother down.
West Point is even worse. Out of some 175 or so “specialties” in the Army, women are allowed to participate in all but about 33. The 33 all involve something the military is in business for: killing people. Regardless, the American taxpayer continues to spend millions of dollars educating females for four years at West Point to do things they’ll never be allowed to do: lead men into combat, involve themselves with armor, infantry, overall tactics and other phases of military life. Women, upon graduation, are assigned to many areas of support services. Yes, in places like Iraq they can be wounded or killed, but they’ll never be general officers in charge of armies, regardless of the political thought police.
I’ve heard they have dumb-downed the application process, to allow for diversity. Some are not even closely qualified.
From the linked article -
The Naval Academy color guard, which is a voluntary extracurricular group, has 28 total members from all four classes.
That being the case, does anyone know how someone, or who, is selected from the 28 for any particular Color Guard assignment? Randomly? Seniority? Availability? Is it a rotation?
Far more important is how does a mid-shipmen forget his shoes and hat (cover)? I am thinking demerits or pareing down to 27.
Speaking of “diversity,” the NY Post is reporting about an incident of flat-out, brutal racism AND sexism at Columbia University last night.
This latest Ivy League incident makes Columbia’s previous uproar (over an unsubstantiated accusation of twine left on some nobody professor’s doorknob?) look like arts-n-crafts.
Well, the good news is that if we don’t kill this “diversity” idiocy now Sharia will take care of it eventually.
There won’t be a lot of concern about “diversity” once the Imams run the show…
Works for the Taliban?
Would Rasmussen PLEASE run a poll on the word “diversity”?
*Adm. Mike Mullen calls diversity “our highest personnel priority”; You can’t get much more insane about political correctness and affirmative action than that statement; As an aside, my gaydar goes off the charts when I listen to Adm. Mullen; Hmmmm!
One hopes and prays. Hoping and sitting on our respective behinds, complaining to each other about how ‘unfair’ it all is and saying things to each other like ‘we ought to DO something‘ won’t get it done. We actually have to get out, make noise, talk to your friend, families and neighbors and point out the idiocy of the current administration, the incumbents in the House and Senate and the corruption where and when we see it!
This site is a GREAT source for information to toss out to those folks that need to hear and listen and see these things! The Van Jones and Cass Sunstein stories would STILL not be told if we waited for the MSM to get them out. Thanks again to our wonderful hostess for providing this information for us.
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble…
Racial preferences in the “Color Guard.” I think there is a pun in there somewhere.
Rut, roh! Just for saying that, the Navy will be called RAAAAACISTS! because they are intimating that the “non-white” man is stupid.
I can just picture some higher up sitting the two replaced cadets down and explaining that they wouldn’t get the chance to represent the Naval Academy at the World Series because they were too white and/or male.
Having been a part of a Color Guard over the years, it depends on the venue. Some events may only call for some of the total, others may call for the whole team if they are doing a drill.
As for being on the team, normally members could volunteer, and some may be recommended. Quite often team members are self motivated and want to be a part of that team, and their uniform and military bearing reflect that. Because you are representing your unit or the military, and quite often honoring someone or some thing, it is an honor itself to be a part of it.
One of the most BASIC requirements of being on a Color Guard is that your uniform is not just the usual, thrown on just after crawling out of bed, but everything is in place, pressed and polished.
Having someone hold your hand, make sure you have BASIC requirements for your uniform and that you can dress yourself properly does not bode well for becoming a part of a Color Guard….or even becoming an officer in charge of troops.
As for paring down the team to 27….
If the whole team was required, it is likely they are performing some very complex maneuvers over a period of time. Doing this requires lots of practice. Someone screwing up like this screws up the entire team. Calling in someone from the bench doesn’t work since they likely have not practiced.
This sounds like this guy was grabbed on his way to the chow hall and told he was going to be on the Color Guard.
This completely smells like a dictate from the tippy top. “Strategic”???
I had a premonition of top level dismantling of the military. I wonder if the Islamic Extremists will see this as a weak spot and…never mind.
You can either go with diversity or individual merit. I’d prefer the latter. Let the most qualified get the honor of being in the color guard, whether its based on academics or military bearing, whatever. But don’t start putting quotas on everything or we’re lost, pure and simple.
How safe do we feel that “diversity” is now ruling our military?
For me? Not so much.
Doh!!! Fail.
Of course. History is FULL of examples of military organizations that lost major battles due to a lack of diversity.
/sarc
Old commanders.
Been out of the field too long.
Afraid to step aside and be replaced by the changing of the guard.
Lost their way trying to follow civilian leaders.
i.e.: Jack’s broken compass.
Midshipmen – not cadets.
is Diversity?
… and here I thought it should be “Excellence.” Silly me.
My last 3 years in the Navy (Clinton years, by the way) the submarine service was desperate to increase the presence of Black submariners.
There has never, ever been a large number of blacks on subs for whatever reason. (Most skimmer Black men I have talked to said that there was “no way I’m going down on one of those things.”)
Anyhow, many of us bubbleheads of Caucasian persuasion referred to the Blacks in non-technical fields as “Spotted Owls,” because you couldn’t do anything to them. They would get extra chances after many disciplinary infractions that would have had other sailors sent to Mast. Commanding Officers were terrified that they would be reported for “discrimination.”
And the few Black submariners that we had in technical rates (Sonar, Nuke, Weapons, Radio) could not stand to be around the “new” guys. They felt that the slackers made them all look bad.
It was sad to see. All because of quota controls on minorities.
It was different for the other minorities. For whatever reason, there have always been plenty of Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Filipino bubbleheads, not to mention plenty of Polynesians and Micronesians. Damned if I can explain the reason for their greater numbers, but I am proud to have served with all of them.
We should get on the phones today about David Hamilton
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)
Wednesday, November 11th at 10:36AM EST
1 Comment
I have written about David Hamilton before.
He is the federal judge who believes it is a violation of the first amendment for Christians to pray at school events, but is not a violation of the first amendment when Muslims pray at school events.
He is also the judge who was cited by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals for abusing his power by keeping an injunction in place on an informed consent law despite the law clearly being constitutional.
Barack Obama has naturally appointed the man to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals — the very court that said Hamilton had abused his power.
Call your Senator today and tell him to vote against cloture on David Hamilton’s nomination. Call 202-224-3121. Ask for your Senator. Tell him to oppose cloture and oppose the nomination of David Hamilton.
The strongest video clips I have ever seen and they are from his own mouth¦
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=tCAffMSWSzY#...
Golly, he is more excited about Islam than he is about Gay “marriage” and Gays in the military!
I wish he would go to Iran and run for President there…
Thank you for your insight.
However, of the 28 members of the color guard, how are the, 6 or 8, people selected to participate in any single event?
INSANITY:
SANITY:
Ya know…. where is all this DIVERSITY in the NFL and the NBA?????
Why doesn’t the NY Giants Defensive squad look more like America????
It’s worse than you imagine. My daughter visited Annapolis, and they had an assembly for parents. One of the staff spouted a line I will never forget, “they deserve their own officers.” This nation is in trouble.
I will respect no man who didn’t earn it on a level playing field.
That mentality goes a long way toward explaining Fort Hood. I’m a Vietnam era Marine. We had black officers, but there was one standard for Marine officers, and one standard for Marines.
There aren’t enough drugs in the world to alter reality for me. Don’t bother with “diversity training.” I’ll make up my own mind about you, and the color of your skin isn’t what I’m looking at.
That could be a problem resulting in dead American service people; but as we have seen at Fort Hood dead American service people is a price the leadership is prepared to pay to be Politically Correct.
We had much the same nonsense in Viet Nam-weak, slow and sometimes criminals drafted “to be fair”. We could not possibly take these mostly tortured souls into the field so we generally had to go into action short of people. But what is combat readiness compared to fairness and diversity?
Besides- dead Americans give the Political Class a chance to make really stupid, self serving speeches. PC First-the mission and people second?
When baseball was all white, blacks took note to that and managed to fill the ranks in due time. They provided the market with achievement and talent.
This concept is lost.
Thank God I retired when it was still the Military’s job to kill people and break things.
This country is doomed.
Oh, it just gets better. Check out this June, 2009, opinion column written by Bruce Fleming, an English professor at the Naval Academy, as well as the comments section.
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/opn/2009/06/14-47/Guest-Column-The-cost-of-a-diverse-Naval-Academy.html?ne=1
Bruce was on the Ron Smith show on WBAL, Baltimore, yesterday afternoon and he is not happy with the Academy. He thinks that the push for diversity has really dumbed down the Academy and he said the honor code is no longer enforced because a disproportionate share of minorities were accused of violations of the code. Lovely…
So… let me get this straight… the “non-white” man … who I think we can all agree got his job that day becuse of affirmative action… performed his job at a subpar level to say the least…
Actually, the only shocking thing to me is that they didn’t make one of the white males pony up his tassel or whatever the hell the idiot forgot back at his “crib.”
“On November 12th, 2009 at 9:10 am, thebronze said:
Thank God I retired when it was still the Military’s job to kill people and break things.
This country is doomed.”
the bronze – my thoughts exactly. This retired Sergeant Major would never make it in today’s Army. The thought of how many male, female, black or white soldiers I had never crossed my mind. They were all Soldiers – with a capital “S” and I was proud to serve with them. I cannot say the same about our current leadership – from the CinC on down.
Exactly what I was thinking but you said it much better.
Or have a complete uniform ready for him, in the Obama doctor photo-op fashion.
The metaphor is spot on. PC’ness, like all things liberal is a spreading cancer.
Here’s an interesting diversity statistic for you:
“While 28 percent of white women gave birth out of wedlock in 2007, nearly 72 percent of black women and more than 51 percent of Latinas did.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/04/08/out.of.wedlock.births/index.html
Ah diversity.
When I worked for the Department of the Navy in the late 1970s and 1980s, my organization had EEO goals. These goals were really quotas, and everyone knew it. Since the quotas were measured at that time by sex and race, it was ideal to hire a black or minority woman – a twofer to use the language of the day. (it really didn’t matter much if the individual hired was competent or a complete idiot, as she would be worth two points to the EEO quota monitors.)
Now, with the inclusion of Islam as part of a politically correct scheme, you can get a threefer – a Muslim woman from Somali would be just right. Or possibly a foursome – a lesbian Muslim woman from Iraq (assuming she survived and is still somehow a devout Muslim). This is sickening, but it is the way things actually work so no one should be surprised that Hasan was allowed to run free and wild without any restraint.
One final thought, in the 1960s, when the civil rights era began in earnest, we were all told that the identification schemes indicating sex and race would never be used as part of a quota for hiring. We all knew that this was a big lie so when the organization race and sex survey was circulate, it yielded the result that 85% of the employees considered themselves to be native Americans. As far as sex was concerned, almost nobody filled in the block even though the organization was virtually all male. The management, of course, was pushed to fill in the gaps to make things look good – thus the quota system was institutionalized and the decades of political correctness that were designed to punish white males with a Christian background were ushered in.
aloha, as usual, brilliant. i thought color guard was an honor given to the most deserving, but in todays affirmative action p.c. can’t we all just get along world, there are deserving, and there are mandated to be deserving.
I’m glad the Naval Aacademy isn’t doing anything stupid and reactionary like trying to train the best possible candidates to be the best possible officers and leaders of Marines and sailors as they go into harms way.
I knew a guy who was an enlisted man in the Navy color guard in DC, and I think the main qualification is good looks.
He wound up in my class at NPS in Orlando, FL 32813, Class 8403, Section 14.
Had a softball team called “the sex gods”. Played in cheap K-Mart Hawaiian shirts. Drank lots of beer. Our section chief, MMC (SS) Sparks let me off mando hours after just a few weeks, so I could do my studying on my own time and then party hardy.
I still kick myself, however, for having been to Daytona Beach several times and never catching a race at Daytona, back when NASCAR was still real stock cars.
Are the armed forces required to put up signs at the recruiting offices that say “women and minorities are encouraged to apply”?
Navy is bowl eligible.
Why tell a lie if you have to scramble to cover it up with another?
Dear Lord; save us from our superiors…
I always like to refer to this, even though he is a dead Roman guy:
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. …He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC—43 BC)
The military has been one of the last remaining meritocracies we have in this society, but we’re losing that quality in the same way that liberalism dismantles society as a whole: one piece at a time, until you wake up one day and realize that what you thought you knew is gone.
Things are only going to keep getting worse, given that we are under donkey rule and its catechisms for the military:
1. Social experimentation playground;
2. Piggy bank to bust open in favor of domestic pork programs; and
3. Home of “children” who become psychotic “victims” or “war criminals” as a result of their training and experience.
When I first enlisted in the Army in 1979, the effects of 3 years of “Carter-ization” and the “hollow military” it led to were painfully obvious. It took Reagan years to salvage morale after that.
Now, we’ve got Jimmy Carter 2.0 as CiC. Anyone who was around in the 1970s knows where this is going…
Good job carol, sometimes its OK to go off topic for awhile.
America will begin to once again rediscover her greatness when we find reasons to treat everyone the same, not by finding reasons to treat people differently [by race, ethnicity, gender, etc]
…assuming, of course, there still is an America at that vague point in the future.
Please do consider supporting the ACRI and the fine work they do.
Normally, I am pleased, dare I say, proud to see my alma mater’s name in a headline.
Today, not so much.
Diversity includes everything except differing opinions. This administration may be composed of people from different races and cultures with unique personal stories, but to me they all have the same country hating opinions. I see no diversity in that.
Sounds like its open season on white males.. PC in the military would become the powder puff military.
Its always been open season on white males in the military when you see that every ethnic group and women each have a month to celebrate their achievements and interestingly Euro-Americans are absent.
I saw that during my entire military career from ’86-’06 and heaven forbid if you don’t show up for the “presentation” thats put on.
I am proud to be an American and nothing less.
GSP
Was just sitting here thinking (and those of you who have been in the military will know what I am talking about):
How do you run a duty roster when you have to factor in “diversity?”
On November 12th, 2009 at 4:59 pm, sergeantmajorbill said:
Place the caucasian duty section on 6×6, port and starboard, with all the hyphenated americans listed as supers…
I have said it before and I say it again. The military has for over 30 years had an Affirmative Action program. In both the enlisted and officer corp.
It was done quietly through the secrecy revoling around testing for enlisted personel. Points added or erased behind closed doors and largely never questioned.
It was hiding in plain sight and still is.
One day the truth may come out and I have to ask, will those vets adversely affected by this program have a suit in court?
Time will tell