Master Sgt. Zachary Parish emailed cadets that morning about a perceived decline in some cadets’ grooming, and reminding both male and female cadets about the rules governing their hair.
The first sergeant concluded his email by reminding them about former NBA superstar Michael Jordan’s habit of appearing at press conferences in a suit and tie, even without a dress code requiring it.
“He was never seen with a gaudy chain around his neck, his pants below his waistline, or with a backwards baseball hat on during public appearances,” Parish said. [Air Force Times]
There is apparently concern that the email was racist. However, if you read the whole email in context in my opinion it is not racist:
The email is fine until he gets to the final point portion about Michael Jordan. Clearly in this section of the email he is trying to make the point that Michael Jordan understood how a professional appearance increased his own creditability and thus his personal brand. He wants cadets to think the same way. If he would have left out the gaudy chain and sagging pants line there probably would not be anything to complain about.
However, here is what the USAFA Vice Commandant for Climate and Culture had to say in response:
Col. Julian Stephens, vice commandant of cadets for culture and climate, sent another email that afternoon apologizing for Parish’s email.
“These comments were very disrespectful, derogatory and unprofessional and in no way reflective of [cadet wing leadership] views,” Stephens wrote. “Microaggressions such as these are often blindspots/unintentional biases that are not often recognized, and if they are recognized they are not always addressed.”
First of all I can’t believe the USAFA has an O6 position for Climate and Culture? Isn’t climate and culture something commanders are supposed to set?
Anyway in my opinion this email is more troubling than the original email. The whole “microaggressions” line seems to me to paint the First Sergeant as being unknowingly racist in effort to appease the Daily Kos / Huffington Post social justice warrior crowd.
It seems to me that Colonel Stephens could have said that First Sergeant Parish’s email referencing grooming standards could have been worded differently and he has been counseled on proper email etiquette. However, the First Sergeant’s point about improving grooming standards in the Air Force Academy is still valid. Writing a response like this would have saved the creditability of the First Sergeant and reinforced his message. Instead he is made out to be unknowing racist and thus a pariah.
With that all said why does an email about grooming standards even need to be sent out? Isn’t there enough leaders at the USAFA to light up cadets not following the grooming standards? Do leaders now not want to hurt cadets’ feelings by telling them to get a haircut and instead send out emails to enforce standards?
Everyone remember this incident at the US Air Force Academy back in September that drew national headlines and forced the school’s superintendent to make a strong speech against racism?:
After racial slurs were scrawled outside black students’ doors at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s preparatory school, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria gathered all 4,000 cadets in a hall Thursday so they could hear one message: Treat people with dignity and respect — or get out.
“That kind of behavior has no place at the prep school, it has no place at USAFA, and it has no place in the United States Air Force,” Silveria said, in a speech that has found an enthusiastic reception after it was recorded and published online. “You should be outraged not only as an airman, but as a human being.” [NPR]
I was dubious of this story when it happened because it seems every time a racism incident like this happens it later comes out that it was fake news. Well now it has been determined that yes this was in fact fake news:
One of the cadet candidates at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School allegedly targeted by racist remarks has been found responsible for the act.
Academy officials announced the cadet candidate is no longer at the school on Tuesday. The investigation started when the words, written on whiteboards outside their dorm rooms, read, “Go home,” followed by the N-word were found in September. The hateful messages were discovered Sept. 25. The words were found on the outside of five African American cadet candidates’ rooms.
The academy says the individual admitted responsibility and this was confirmed by the investigation. [KKTV]
The original reporting made national headlines and now the fact that this has been proven to be fake news is making few headlines. This fake news just continues to feed the narrative there are white supremacist racists around every street corner to include in the US Air Force Academy which is not true. However, the media has no interest in reporting responsibly, but instead finding click bait articles which these racism articles seem to be for them.
This is a pretty interesting read by an Air Force Academy alumnus who recently saw the changes the academy has gone through to train officers for today’s Air Force:
None of this was happening. They were walking at rest, not greeting anyone. Actually, they were ignoring the upperclassmen walking by. I stopped one of them and asked him, “Cadet, are you recognized yet?”
“No, we are not,” was his response. He kept walking. There was no “sir” in his response. He obviously knew I was an alumnus and former military officer. The problem was that he simply didn’t care. He didn’t care because he had been taught not to care. Military bearing was absent. Completely gone. Removed.
And then, the shock continued.
As the time started to get close to the Noon Meal Formation, where the cadets form up and march into Mitchell Hall for lunch, I again realized nothing was happening. Cadets were nonchalantly walking to the huge cafeteria where they are served all at once during the school week for lunch. I subsequently found out the formation had been cancelled due to high winds. I laughed to myself. There wasn’t even a breeze. Wow, things really have changed.
Inside the noon meal, all former military decorum and training at the lunch table had been vaporized. There was nothing. The freshman cadets didn’t even have the civilian decency to serve their alumni guests first, not to mention any military bearing. They just took the food and ignored everyone else at the table.
It gets worse: after lunch, my colleagues walked into the academic building. Before my eyes, where there used to be formal lecture halls, was a Dunkin’ Donuts. My jaw hit the floor and I actually took a picture– I was that amazed. This was no longer a military academy; it was UCLA in uniforms. [Ops Lens]
Here is the most profound thing he realized from his visit to the US Air Force Academy:
Not once did I hear the word warrior. In a flash, I got it. The academy was no longer training cadets to be Air Force warriors. They were no longer training to fight for our country and win wars. They were being trained to function in the bureaucracy. The academy was all about competing with civilian institutions in a variety of ways.
You can read much more at the link, but I am curious if anyone agrees with this former cadet’s assessment of the current state of the US Air Force Academy.
