Our military leaders should focus on fighting external threats at this crucial historical juncture, not fighting a domestic culture war.
Corporate media and progressives found a new darling in Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after his congressional testimony last week. Anyone who dared to criticize him was blasted as either unpatriotic or demonstrating âwhite rage.â
Republicans have criticized the U.S. military for promoting books that advocate for racial divisions â for example, listing Ibram Kendiâs critical race theory gospel, âHow to Be an Antiracist,â as reading for sailors in the U.S. Navy. During his testimony, Milley made it clear he didnât see anything wrong with training the U.S. military in critical race theory.
Milley Defends Racist Indoctrination
âIâve read Mao Zedong. Iâve read Karl Marx. Iâve read Lenin,â he argued. âThat doesnât make me a communist.â Many advocates of critical race theoryâs racist teachings have made similar arguments about teaching it in K-12 schools, claiming it is just one of many ideas students are taught.
But the generalâs own words quickly betrayed the notion that books about critical race theory are casual reading assignments simply for soldiersâ intellectual curiosity. Referencing the events at the U.S. Capitol in January, he stated: âI want to understand white rage. And Iâm white.â
The phrase âwhite rageâ is CRT newspeak, implying that ârageâ has a color, and it is exclusively âwhite.â Emory University professor Carol Anderson coined the term in her 2016 book âWhite Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide.â She sees âwhite rageâ as âthe operational function of white supremacy,â which is embedded in policies that actively âundermine African American achievement and advancement.â
The phrase reflects CRT advocatesâ typical but misguided beliefs that the United States hasnât made much progress in racial healing and racial equality, and that minorities are still hopelessly oppressed by the white majority in todayâs America. Many scholars, including black scholars such as Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, and Jason Riley, have refuted such beliefs vigorously.
Nevertheless, by using âwhite rageâ in his testimony, Milley indicated he is on board with CRTâs teachings and beliefs. Furthermore, he demands American soldiers be indoctrinated with the same ideology.
âWhat is wrong,â Milley asked, with âhaving some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?â This assumes that one can understand the United States by accepting accusations against its white citizens as expressions of ârage.â Of course, there is nothing wrong with American soldiers understanding our nationâs true history â not only its faults, but also the progress it has made.
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