When Ibram X. Kendi’s preposterous thesis that “the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination” becomes mainstream practice, you know things are upside down.
Kendi is the author of the poorly reasoned 2019 leftist propaganda book, “How to Be an Antiracist,” which became not only a bestseller, but a clarion call for progressives.
In a speech at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Kendi put his anti-reasoning skills on display, according to the New York Post. “When I see racial disparities, I see racism,” Kendi said. If that isn’t a blanket generalization, the logical fallacy of that name has no meaning.
And yet Kendi’s obtuse theories have burrowed deep into some of America’s most beloved institutions like a fever-carrying tick in a bloodhound’s ear.
The United States Military Academy in West Point, New York — which has graduated the likes of Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower — is one such institution. And it’s being called out for it.
On Tuesday, lawyers representing the Students for Fair Admissions sued West Point for alleged race and ethnicity discrimination in admissions decisions, according to Politico. SFFA is the anti-affirmative action group that tanked race-conscious admissions practices at Harvard in a Supreme Court decision.
But the decision that nixed racial admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill determined that because no military academy was party to the suit, the opinion did not include admissions issues at these schools “in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present,” according to Politico.
SFFA didn’t agree with the justices’ logic and argued there is “no justification for using race-based admissions” and, since the practice is now illegal at non-military universities, West Point “is not exempt from the Constitution.”
SFFA contends that West Point is violating the Fifth Amendment with its skewed admission practices. The Fifth Amendment contains an equal-protection principle that binds the federal government.
“Instead of admitting future cadets based on objective metrics and leadership potential, West Point focuses on race,” the lawsuit claimed. “In fact, it openly publishes its racial composition ‘goals,’ and its director of admissions brags that race is wholly determinative for hundreds if not thousands of applicants.”
“Because skin color can be — and often is — a decisive factor for successful applicants who are chosen from those congressional nominee pools, it is equally dispositive for the other qualified nominees who are turned away,” the lawsuit states, according to The Hill.
“Put differently, because race is a ‘positive’ factor for some West Point applicants, it is necessarily a ‘negative’ factor for others.”
Also listed in the lawsuit as defendants are the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Steven Gilland and West Point Admissions Director Rance Lee.
It’s tough enough to get into West Point without having your race count against you. You have no control over who your parents are or what color of skin you are born with; those are existential facts. The color of your skin has nothing to do with skill, determination or integrity.
West Point enrolls 1,200 to 1,300 cadets per class, according to Politico. Applicants must pass medical exams and a physical fitness test. They have to get nominated by either a member of Congress, the vice president or the president. That’s all before prospects can be considered for acceptance by West Point’s admissions office. Fewer than 10 percent of applicants are admitted.
Having the color of your skin or ethnicity taken into consideration for admission makes about as much sense as Ibram X. Kendi, whose “logic often descends into dizzying circularity and tautologies,” according to the Post. When asked to define “racism” at the progressive Aspen Fest, Kendi said it is “a collection of racist policies that lead to racial inequity that are substantiated by racist ideas.” Huh?
That’s like West Point contending they use race-based admissions because skin color matters when a future graduate is leading troops on a battlefield or advising a president whether or not to go to war.
The average American is better at logic — or possesses more common sense — than many of our country’s leaders. The Founding Fathers knew this. It’s why they wrote the Constitution in the way they did, by the people and for the people — regardless of the color of their skin.
“For most of its history,” the SFFA lawsuit stated, according to Politico, “West Point has evaluated cadets based on merit and achievement. America’s enemies do not fight differently based on the race of the commanding officer opposing them, soldiers must follow orders without regard to the skin color of those giving them, and battlefield realities apply equally to all soldiers regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin.”
It’s high time someone started picking the fever-carrying ticks of Critical Race Theory, antiracism and all the other mumbo jumbo out of the necks of our institutions. The proponents of such nonsense are either cultural Marxists or useful idiots for the radical left.
Only common sense can save us now — not theories based on hate, rather than reason.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Jack Gist, The Western Journal
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