The Patriot Post® · A 'Woke' U.S. Army?

Setting aside the fact that black lives don’t matter one whit to Black Lives Matter — what really matters is political power for the Democrats and the defeat of President Donald Trump at all costs in November — the BLM movement is reverberating throughout government circles, notably of late, the U.S. Army. Although both uniformed and civilian Army personnel are strictly prohibited from engaging in political activities while in uniform or on duty, apparently those same rules don’t apply to the Army’s politically correct, “woke”-focused “Equity and Inclusion Agency.” And yes, the agency’s activities are every bit as Orwellian as its name implies.

For example, as to “inclusion,” the agency’s take is that if you state “all lives matter,” or you support the enforcement of immigration laws, then of course you’re a racist and a white supremacist. How’s that for inclusion? Even more egregious behavior was uncovered by Alabama Republican Representative Mo Brooks. After learning of the agency’s “Operation Inclusion” seminars, designed to “woke”-brainwash all personnel working at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal, Brooks demanded the Army open an immediate investigation into “Army personnel illegally using federal government resources to distribute racist and partisan political propaganda in direct violation of the federal Hatch Act and any number of military regulations.”

In his demand letter to the secretary of the Army, Brooks stated, “The U.S. Army’s use of a graphic that claims ‘Make America Great Again’ (among many other things) constitutes ‘white supremacy’ and, thus, racism, in a clearly marked Army product distributed to U.S. Army uniform and civilian personnel working on or for Redstone Arsenal (a major U.S. military base) using an official email account is in violation of the law, federal regulations, and DoD Directives.”

In his press release, Brooks further noted, “The illegal, racist and politically partisan material includes a pyramid graphic that claims the following are evidence of ‘White Supremacy’, and, hence, racism,” and he cited the following as a non-exhaustive list drawn from the pyramid: Using the phrase “Make America Great Again”; “Education Funding from Property Taxes”; “Calling the Police on Black People”; Using the phrase “All Lives Matter”; “Denial of White Privilege”; “Inequitable Healthcare”; “Anti-Immigration Policies”; “English-Only Initiatives”; “Celebration of Columbus Day”; Discussing “American Exceptionalism”; “Claiming Reverse-Racism”; “There’s Only One Human Race”; finally adding, “And dozens more!”

The problem is much more pervasive than merely the Army, however. As City Journal’s Christopher Rufo highlights, so-called “private diversity consultant” Howard Ross, one of the founders and fixtures in the cesspool Rufo terms the “diversity-industrial complex,” has been bilking the U.S. government out of more than $5 million for his “services” over the years. Ross has billed taxpayers (exorbitantly) for reeducating personnel along the above propaganda lines in seminars at myriad U.S. federal agencies, including the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, the National Credit Union Association, NASA, the Officer of the Comptroller, the Department of Justice, the National Institute of Health, and the Office of the Attorney General, to name a few of the most prominent.

While Ross and others of his ilk personally benefit from the politics of division, destruction, and “intersectionalism,” these types of poisonous ideologies are destroying our nation. To wit, specifically, here: WE DON’T NEED a “woke” Army. We need an EFFECTIVE Army. And teaching hate and fomenting divisiveness on the basis of a politically driven, race-baiting agenda having no foundations in fact is no way to promote such effectiveness.

The bottom line is that Ross and other willfully blind “diversity re-educators” should be fired. True diversity means evaluations based on performance and character — only — not on skin, gender, or a host of other irrelevant factors. As Morgan Freeman aptly stated, “The best way to stop talking about race is to stop talking about race.” That idea applies equally to all other “diversity”-related elements, as well. It’s time the U.S. Army — among other would-be “woke” communities — gets “woke” to that fact.