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<p>Everyone that knows me knows that I am not racist and despise racism but the Army has kicked a hornets nest with the recent publicity on the Black Engineer of the Year Award, or BEYA, conference, held in Washington D.C., Feb. 7-8.
</p><p>We as a profession of arms should not be supporting segregating awards based on race. </p><p>I am aware that this is not an Army award but a civilian award to civilian engineers, but the Army should not be promoting or supporting programs such as these merely because of the image they portray.</p>
</p><p>We as a profession of arms should not be supporting segregating awards based on race. </p><p>I am aware that this is not an Army award but a civilian award to civilian engineers, but the Army should not be promoting or supporting programs such as these merely because of the image they portray.</p>
EO
Awards
Racism
Edited 12 y ago
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 26
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Welcome to the new Army! After leaving service, I had many Soldiers contact me with complaints and venting their frustrations at the level of dissention and segregation growing within the ranks. The Administration has continually pushed for "diversity" at the cost of military cohesion. This is just the latest act in that trend.
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African Americans were pretty thoroughly discriminated against for 150 years AFTER slavery was abolished. That clock still ticks from thousand racist comments and actions all across the US every day. 1964 was a big step forward. 2008 was a big step forward. There have been other big steps forward, but let's be fair, equality is not here yet. But I'm still proud to support race-based awards as it bolsters pride for a community still seeking equality.
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CPT (Join to see)
Maybe something like letting a child win at a game so he/she gains self-confidence, right?
I'm sorry, but you cannot placate people who are looking for equality by inventing a separate meaningless award. That is by definition the opposite of equality. I get that people mean well, and by no measure am I trying to say that I am speaking for all minorities.
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SGT Randy Kuhlman
How was 2008 a "big step forward"? Just because the first black president was elected? If so, then you are pretty much saying he was elected primarily because of race, not qualification. Interesting. In addition, I fail to see how race-based awards can bolster pride in a community seeking equality. If anything, it bolsters further racism and separation within the ranks. If race-based awards ok with you, how well do you think it would go over if we had a "White Engineer of the Year" award? }
Dr. King advocated for equality, not special treatment. Creating race-based awards creates the perception of special treatment and this only further divides us.
Dr. King advocated for equality, not special treatment. Creating race-based awards creates the perception of special treatment and this only further divides us.
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SFC (Join to see)
I think the young CPT is referring to the election of an African American as President as a step forward but he is sorely mistaken. The election of an African American as president did quite the opposite, it created a windfall of racism and boosted the numbers of people joining white supremacist groups. That's right it was a great recruiting tool for groups like the Aryans, KKK and others.
I may not agree with many of his policies but I do not envy him one bit. On one side he has minority groups looking to him to make things better for them and if he doesn't he will be labelled an Uncle Tom or Sell Out. On the other side he has the Upper crust white groups just waiting for him to screw up so they can jump on their boxes and say " We told you so".
As the SGT stated Dr. King would most likely be pretty upset to see a race based award following his speech where he stated "...will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I may not agree with many of his policies but I do not envy him one bit. On one side he has minority groups looking to him to make things better for them and if he doesn't he will be labelled an Uncle Tom or Sell Out. On the other side he has the Upper crust white groups just waiting for him to screw up so they can jump on their boxes and say " We told you so".
As the SGT stated Dr. King would most likely be pretty upset to see a race based award following his speech where he stated "...will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
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LTC (Join to see)
CPT Tropy, I respectfully disagree.
1. It robs the minority who earns the award of the full recognition from their peers because they are viewed as if they were "given it because they are a minority".
2. It robs the minority who underachieves the valuable life lesson found in failure by rewarding at best mediocre performance and at worse incompetence.
3. It robs the achieving "name your unfavored group here.. White Male Christian, currently" of what they may have rightfully earned based on race alone and denies them the life lesson for failure by providing the "race excuse".
Tell me, who is the winner here?
In kindergarten we are taught that "two wrongs don’t make a right". How is it good public policy to institutionalize racism or racial preferences? Why is one generation paying the price for the sins of another? If we are to have a 'preference category' should not it be one simply of poverty. How is a poor Asian or white child any less impoverished because they are of a different race. So the wealthy son of an African American Physician deserves more of an opportunity than the poor white orphan from West Appalachia? How about the children of the President? Are they more worthy of recognition because they are more racially marginalized than a white child on welfare? It is preposterous to assume that anyone deserves less opportunity based on race. It’s an obvious violation of the civil rights of American Citizens.
Equality for all under the law. I think that’s supposed to be a part of the constitutional and bill of rights, isn’t it?
1. It robs the minority who earns the award of the full recognition from their peers because they are viewed as if they were "given it because they are a minority".
2. It robs the minority who underachieves the valuable life lesson found in failure by rewarding at best mediocre performance and at worse incompetence.
3. It robs the achieving "name your unfavored group here.. White Male Christian, currently" of what they may have rightfully earned based on race alone and denies them the life lesson for failure by providing the "race excuse".
Tell me, who is the winner here?
In kindergarten we are taught that "two wrongs don’t make a right". How is it good public policy to institutionalize racism or racial preferences? Why is one generation paying the price for the sins of another? If we are to have a 'preference category' should not it be one simply of poverty. How is a poor Asian or white child any less impoverished because they are of a different race. So the wealthy son of an African American Physician deserves more of an opportunity than the poor white orphan from West Appalachia? How about the children of the President? Are they more worthy of recognition because they are more racially marginalized than a white child on welfare? It is preposterous to assume that anyone deserves less opportunity based on race. It’s an obvious violation of the civil rights of American Citizens.
Equality for all under the law. I think that’s supposed to be a part of the constitutional and bill of rights, isn’t it?
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When they come out with Best Ukrainian/Incan NCO of the year, I'll be ok with it.
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SSG (Join to see)
On a serious note, that BEYO article did throw me off, I definitely don't agree with it.
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Awards should be based on the merits of the individual and nothing else. As long as there are special "qualifiers" for awards, there will be those who use those things to "manufacture" differences between groups.
We all swore the same oath. We all incurred the same obligations. We all should be evaluated on character and performance; and nothing else.
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Didnt congress just upgrade some awards to medal of honors because of race?
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SGT(P) (Join to see)
CPT Williams,
Here I was thinking all of us (Army, at least) were green. We should base it on blood color. I want to be the best darn red blooded truck driver in the Army!
Here I was thinking all of us (Army, at least) were green. We should base it on blood color. I want to be the best darn red blooded truck driver in the Army!
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CPT (Join to see)
SSG (because I have full confidence in you as a SSG) Mickles, I totally agree. My family has many colors as the demographic race entry is concerned, several of them multiple. As well, I would add another race, Canine, because so our MWD have done so much for us.
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SFC (Join to see)
SSG Graves, those upgrades were for people who were discriminated against back in the day and would have qualified for the award had they been white. I applaud the correction and upgrade because they deserved it.<div>This matter is completely different because it awards something solely based on the race of the awardee. </div>
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