Pentagon gets "woke": Whistleblowers reveal segregation for ‘privilege_walks,’ critical race theory

[Ubiquitous]

Sen. Tom Cotton has revealed some of the hundreds of whistleblower complaints
from service members who object to critical race theory indoctrination in the
military, including airmen being divided by race and sex into groups for
“privilege walks.”

The service members also spoke out against receiving reading lists of
critical race theory books as part of the Pentagon’s new anti-extremism and
diversity training within the ranks.

“This is about a very specific kind of anti-American indoctrination that is
seeping into some parts of our military,” Mr. Cotton said at a recent Senate
Armed Services Committee hearing.

Mr. Cotton, Arkansas Republican, received the complaints through a
whistleblower site he launched in late May in partnership with Rep. Dan
Crenshaw, Texas Republican.

Mr. Cotton, a former Army infantry officer, and Mr. Crenshaw, a former Navy
SEAL lieutenant commander, created the site to identify “woke” ideology
within the military, they said.

The service members’ complaints add to the mounting pushback against “woke”
culture that is quickly spreading through America’s schools, workplaces and
government. These institutions increasingly adopt training and curriculum
based on critical race theory, which holds that White people are inherently
racist and invested in the oppression of people of color.

Pentagon officials have defended the training as promoting diversity, equity
and inclusion in the armed forces.

Critics contend that it is sowing division in the ranks.

“One Marine told us a military history training session was replaced with
mandatory training on police brutality, white privilege, and systemic racism.
He reported that several officers are now leaving his unit citing that
training,” he said. “Another service member told us that their unit was
required to read White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo which claims, ‘white
people raised in western society are conditioned in a white supremacist world
view.’”

He said an airman complained that an exercise called “privilege walk,” saying
it was a “racist exercise.”

“Members of the wing were ordered to separate themselves by race and gender
in order to stratify people based on their perceived privilege,” Mr. Cotton
said in describing the airman’s complaint.

The senator detailed several specific complaints this week when questioning
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at the committee hearing.

“We’re hearing reports of plummeting morale, growing mistrust between the
races and sexes where none existed just six months ago, and unexpected
retirements and separations based on these trainings alone,” he said.

Mr. Cotton asked Mr. Austin whether he believes the military is fundamentally
racist and if service members should be treated differently based on race or
sex. Mr. Austin answered no to both questions, and he said he welcomed
service members to make complaints through their chain of command or the
inspector general.

“I would also say that diversity, equity, and inclusion to this military now,
and it will be important in the future,” Mr. Austin said. “And so, we’re
going to make sure that our military looks like America and that our
leadership looks like what’s in the ranks of the military.”

The complaints follow the Pentagon’s recent efforts to stamp out extremism in
the ranks after current and former troops were identified in the pro-Trump
mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. In February, the Pentagon
directed military units to hold one-day “stand-down” to address extremism
within the ranks.

The service members’ complaints also point to emerging polarization in the
military ranks.

“Enough is enough,” Mr. Crenshaw said in a Twitter post when announcing the
whistleblower site. “We won’t let our military fall to woke ideology.”

The recent efforts to improve inclusivity have gone too far, according to the
lawmakers, who said the military has long been one of the country’s great
equalizers.

“The military for decades has been one of the institutions in this society
where you are most likely to get ahead based on your own performance, on your
own merit, irrespective of the color of your skin or where you came from or
who your parents were,” Mr. Cotton said.

“There’s a cultural identity that takes place in the military, which is
actually really hard to emulate anywhere else, but it happens in the
military,” Mr. Crenshaw told Fox News on Friday. “That’s what we should be
talking about when we say the military is inclusive.”

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Trump won.