Mike Waltz is a Republican congressman from Florida. He is also a Green Beret combat veteran of Afghanistan. He knows how much critical race theory can hurt our armed forces. He details the issue below.

Close

 

Waltz: “Imagine being a recent graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and you are given your first orders as an infantry officer in command of a unit in an active war zone. You are thousands of miles away from home and responsible for the lives under your command. Like in most instances, your unit is comprised of soldiers of mixed ethnicities, religions and backgrounds.

With all this in mind, you were also taught in a government-funded course that the institutions you serve and that your unit swore an oath to defend, are inherently racist, and that inherent inequality based on skin color should impact your decision making. Does this impact your thinking as you order a soldier to move forward against a machine gun? Will you select a soldier of a different race because you have White guilt?

As a Green Beret who served in combat while deployed in Afghanistan, I know what it’s like to command a unit comprised of different ethnicities. It’s not something you care about or consider while giving orders. In the face of gunfire, you often have less than seconds to make decisions. You have one focus: to complete the mission while mitigating injuries and fatalities.

When a West Point cadet’s family came to me with a screenshot of a presentation by Emory University and then-guest lecturer Dr. Carol Anderson titled, ‘Understanding Whiteness and White rage,’ I was shocked this was being taught to our future military leaders. As I inquired with West Point, it was also shared with me that critical race theory (CRT) is included in a course syllabus. Despite much fervor from Democrats like former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who referred to CRT teachings as a ‘right-wing conspiracy,’ it’s very much alive in our military academies.

When pressed on CRT being taught in the military, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the House Armed Services Committee, ‘We do not teach critical race theory. We don’t embrace critical race theory, and I think that’s a spurious conversation.’ Yet the evidence is mounting.

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Air Force Academy Professor Lynne Chandler García admitted, ‘I teach critical race theories to our nation’s future military leaders’ and that ‘racism was ingrained in the system from the beginning.’There is no denying the military – and the United States – has a history of racism and a checkered past. We should understand that. But this isn’t a history course.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

As academic proponents of CRT Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic have put it: ‘Unlike traditional civil rights, which stresses incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.’ Why are we teaching cadets to question the principles of the Constitution that they have taken an oath of allegiance to?”