Are you claiming that the audience being addressed was only white? You are claiming that the white membership were segregated out from the rest of the student body for this particular speech?
Please provide some support for that.
Because everyone else is saying the entire Cadet Wing was addressed. Which implies either this is an all-white institution (which it is not) or those being addressed were multi racial, ethnic, and gendered.
I don’t see anywhere where Silveria is giving a pass to anyone. What he said applies to all, regardless of skin color, ethnicity, or gender. This is not something to be a butt-hurt white guy about.
‘It turns out you didn’t actually do it, so I will let you off with a warning.’
What he should have said is
"We don’t tolerate racism here. We also don’t tolerate faking hate crimes, so if it turns out that any of the black students wrote the messages himself, he is out of here just as surely as anyone else.
Silveria said that the messages were bad, and should not have been written. The student who wrote the messages has now been identified, and has been kicked out of the Academy. I’m not sure I see where the hypocrisy is, here.
EDIT:
He didn’t bother saying that at the time, because fake hate crimes like this are really rare. But yes, when it came out that this was one of those rare cases, the black student who wrote those messages himself was in fact out of there.
If, and this is a big “if” we are expected to accept the notion of dog whistle racism - which I do accept - which goes beyond the literal analysis of what is said to take into account the full context of what is said, can it not also be said, that when looking at the full context of this situation, that there is an assumption that white people will act in racist ways? A sort of mirror example of dog whistle racism if you will?
The only problem is the general atmosphere inciting people to jump on bandwagons and cast their racist nets as far and wide as possible. The U.S. military led the way in de-segregation and civil rights while the rest of the country was still wallowing in publicly brazen racism throughout the 50’s and 60’s. This story seemed odd to me when it first broke. This type thing is almost unheard of at the military academies, and in the military as a whole, generally speaking. THAT is what spurred Silva’s response. It was literally shocking to the entire chain of command right up and down. Now it makes sense.
This link is only relevant when juxtaposed with statistics of confirmed hate crimes. The only way to know fake hate crimes are rare is to know how many real ones there are.
I have a working theory that my military buddies struggle to accept concepts like racial, economic and gender inequality specifically because they spend most of their time in an environment that is about as close to a true meritocracy as you can get. That’s a compliment to the military, actually, but I think it might cause a bit of a cultural divide between those who live in that world and those who don’t.
No, an imbecile who did something akin to call up a bomb warning on a day he had an exam he hadn’t studied for, from his mother’s cellphone. He was trying to escape some (probably minor) shit coming his way by making himself too “delicate” to be attacked, and instead brought down the whole pile of manure.
Bottom line: there’s a lot more demand for racism than there is supply of racism. Ergo, the media have to jump on ANYTHING that looks like a racist incident.
So… am I denying that racism exists? Hell, no! My name tells you where I grew up: in Archie Bunker’s neighborhood. Have I heard many friends, neighbors and relatives say ugly, racist things? Hundreds of times. Does it shock me that white cops from blue collar neighborhoods like mine are capable of roughing up black citizens who weren’t doing anything? Nope. Does it shock me that white people often dislike and fear blacks and use the N word when they think they’re alone together? Nope.
But you know what they DON’T do, and NEVER do? Leave little nooses lying around. And they DON’T spray paint “GET OUT SAND N–ERS” on Arabs’ doors. ANY time I hear about incidents like that, I assume they’re fake. And I’m usually right.
Racism is real, but it’s a hell of a lot more circumspect than ever. REAL white racists don’t behave like stereotypical Klansmen.
That’s interesting. One of my best friends in high school, shortly after arriving, had exactly such a hate message scrawled in her agenda: ‘‘GET OUT NIGGER OR WE’RE GOING TO HANG YOU’’ with a drawing of a noose and a date highlighted.
She didn’t tell anyone but the principal, in fact, I didn’t find out until a couple of years ago. This happened in 1998. It fucked with her head pretty well.
Although she recalls, the principal was furious on her behalf, and that meant something to her.
That does not remotely follow from anything in this thread. Yes, there are more attention-seeking dickheads willing to make false claims, but that doesn’t magically reduce the “supply” of actual racism.
That’s nice. Had you said that when you revived the thread, you might not have gotten such pushback. Instead you wondered whether the superintendent would apologize for his speech. You never quite explained what he said that he needed to apologize for.
When on earth would anyone need to apologize for saying they won’t tolerate racism? Did he single out individual students?
Our CEO lectured our entire staff today about not tolerating toxic, divisive behavior as she’s heard rumors of gossip. I engaged in no such behavior and it never occurred to me to be offended.
