USAFA Superintendent addresses slurs found in prep school

[georgeglass]

If you can't watch the whole thing, start at 3:55


www.usafa.edu/superintendent-addresses-racial-slurs-usafa/

[amberlyrose]

Good. He seems like a good super. The USAFA has had some pretty fucking terrible superintendents that would not have addressed this.

[VillainV]

I was there for this. It was powerful. There were over 5500 people in that room (4000+ cadets plus faculty and staff).

ETA: I have seen similar incidents of racism here, and all have been taken very seriously. A lot of people feel like racism doesn’t exist here, but it definitely does. I was thankful to use this speech to spark more discussion among the cadets I work with on what racism looks like (ie: it doesn’t always look like a racial slur on a white board).

A few months ago Gen Silveria was asked about we continue to teach tolerance, inclusion, diversity, respect etc “in the current political climate” and he was very clear that we MUST continue to reinforce these concepts despite everything else going on. I loved how he addresses it as “the best way to combat horrible ideas is with better ideas.”

[StrawberryBlondie]

Good.

[pitta12]

I was just coming here to see if this had been posted yet. This is what leadership looks like.

[WanderingWinoZ]

Axios summary
ETA link
www.axios.com/air-force-academy-superintendent-grab-your-phones-2490875750.html

If you're starting to forget what a leader sounds like, we have a refreshing reminder to start your Friday:

Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the Air Force Academy, yesterday "stood all of his 4,000 cadets at attention ... [c]hins in and chests out ... to deliver a message on racial slurs found written on message boards at the academy's preparatory school," The (Colorado Springs) Gazette reports.

At the culmination of his five-minute lecture on "the power of diversity" of race and gender, the general barked: "Reach for your phones. I'm serious: Reach for your phones. ... Grab your phones. I want you to videotape this — so that you have it, so that you can use it, so that we all have the moral courage together."

Then he said: "If you can't treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out." The general turned and left.

The academy says in a release that "five black students woke up Tuesday to find 'Go Home' followed by an epithet scrawled on message boards outside their rooms."

More from Silveria, an '85 graduate of the academy: "If you're outraged by those words, then you're in the right place ... We would ... be tone deaf not to think about the backdrop of what's going on in our country — things like Charlottesville and Ferguson, the protests in the NFL."

" [W]hat we should have is a civil discourse and talk about these issues. That's a better idea."

Why it matters: This is very much of a piece with the camera-phone video we brought you last month, in which Defense Secretary Jim Mattis tells troops aboard, in impromptu remarks: "Hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other.

[lahoagie]

Sept 29, 2017 10:19:34 GMT -5 VillainV said:

I was there for this. It was powerful. There were over 5500 people in that room (4000+ cadets plus faculty and staff).

ETA: I have seen similar incidents of racism here, and all have been taken very seriously. A lot of people feel like racism doesn’t exist here, but it definitely does. I was thankful to use this speech to spark more discussion among the cadets I work with on what racism looks like (ie: it doesn’t always look like a racial slur on a white board).

A few months ago Gen Silveria was asked about we continue to teach tolerance, inclusion, diversity, respect etc “in the current political climate” and he was very clear that we MUST continue to reinforce these concepts despite everything else going on. I loved how he addresses it as “the best way to combat horrible ideas is with better ideas.”

It looks like things have changed since I was there. I remember there being big talk like this but no action.

[thejackpot]

That's a leader.

[WOT?*]

The Air Force Times had a good write-up on it too. (It was linked from my son-in-law's mom's post. She's a retired AF Colonel and her husband works at the Academy.)

www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/09/28/racial-slurs-written-on-dorm-room-boards-of-black-air-force-academy-cadet-candidates/

I'm not sure how I feel about the dad's statement.

In an interview with Air Force Times, that cadet candidate’s father said his son is doing fine in the wake of the racial slur incident, which he called “utter stupidity.”
“The word has zero power in my house,” his father said. “Zero power. The word is not going to yield a reaction. My initial advice to him was, respond with intelligence, do not react, do not get upset. You don‘t have to defend intelligence, you don’t have to defend common sense, you don’t have to defend confidence. He’s fine.”
His father also said he felt the academy was taking the right steps to handle the incident ― though he lamented that it will inevitably turn into a big deal ― and that it doesn’t reflect on the academy and its staff as a whole.

“The real victim here is that individual [who wrote the slurs], because that individual is going to lose a promising career in the military,” the cadet candidate‘s father said. “That individual is going to go home disgraced. Him or her is the real victim, because they were raised with that kind of vitriol and that kind of hate. My son is not a victim, I don’t view him as a victim.”

I mean, I agree with him, but let your kid feel what he feels. And he IS a victim. To me, it's like telling a rape victim that she's not a victim and she can plow through it, don't show the pain and don't let it affect you. Deal with it. But I'm sure dad was raised to be strong and not let the word hurt or affect him (but it does, guy, you know it does, or you wouldn't have to be saying, and so affirmatively, that it doesn't) and he raised his kid to plow through regardless of the obstacles and hatred, and that's why his kid is Cadet material.

[sushi]

I get the advice to not react at least outwardly. More out of safety and perception than what's right.

Butt the person who wrote that is not a victim. Not in any way. Not even a victim of upbringing and culture. By the time you're at the academy you should know better.

H hate reads the Christian af pilot blog. I wonder what that asshole will say, if anything, about this.

[VillainV]

Sept 29, 2017 13:33:45 GMT -5 sushi said:

I get the advice to not react at least outwardly. More out of safety and perception than what's right.

Butt the person who wrote that is not a victim. Not in any way. Not even a victim of upbringing and culture. By the time you're at the academy you should know better.

H hate reads the Christian af pilot blog. I wonder what that asshole will say, if anything, about this.

The response from all cadets (even the super-conservative ones) and all of my AD friends (even the super-conservative ones) has been overwhelmingly positive. Though I think the conversation needs to go a lot further. Right now people feel like they aren’t the problem because they would never write that on a white board. They aren’t the ones who need to “get out.” When really racism is about so much more than this, and we NEED to talk about racism in all of its forms in order to actually see change.

[sushi]

Sept 29, 2017 14:38:30 GMT -5 VillainV said:

The response from all cadets (even the super-conservative ones) and all of my AD friends (even the super-conservative ones) has been overwhelmingly positive. Though I think the conversation needs to go a lot further. Right now people feel like they aren’t the problem because they would never write that on a white board. They aren’t the ones who need to “get out.” When really racism is about so much more than this, and we NEED to talk about racism in all of its forms in order to actually see change.

I agree with all this. It's the same way we discuss here all the time about how you can't say "I'm not racist b/c I don't use that word, and I have a black friend." It goes way beyond that.

I will say, despite the conservatism, I think there's better hope for change in military structure than average population as people will interact with, and trust, and respect, and befriend POC whereas there may be people in the US that never do any of that. I may never have a POC as a superior, but I guarandamntee you will in a military career. 

[Smolinsk]

There are reports of an active shooter near the prep school right now. I really hope that everyone is safe and that it's not related to the events of the past few days.

[VillainV]

Sept 29, 2017 23:43:45 GMT -5 Smolinsk said:

There are reports of an active shooter near the prep school right now. I really hope that everyone is safe and that it's not related to the events of the past few days.

This is an active situation.