Do you believe that these West Point first classman are violating the UCMJ by making a political statement while in uniform?

PFC Alexander Oliveira - Perhaps you should read a bit on the history of the black power salute first seen in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

PFC Alexander Oliveira - It depends on how you view the gesture. Is it political or racial? It seems the majority of the viewers here think it's racially motivated. They are hating on the white race of course. That's what the whole "racial war" has always been about- black against white. It can be construed as racists because that gesture links back to the Black Power movement which was supported by known black racists like Malcolm X and the Black Panthers. The argument is are these women saying that or are they saying something completely different? Judging by the half hearted attempt by the majority of them to even extend the arm fully I'm guessing they don't even know what they're doing or why they are doing it :) It'll be interesting to see what their response the allegations will be.

SSgt Jim Gilmore, lol, doesn't that make ya' feel old that you actually have some historical information that some people may have never heard of ;) Hang in there buddy it'll only get more interesting from here.

It appears the O-9 Superintendent of the USMA has sold out for political correctness.

If their sports team just won, why do they not look excited? I can't believe the kid gloves that this kind of crap gets handled with.

CPT L S - Same invitation on the east coast.

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CPT L S -
While there are blue cords for the infantry, I am an intel guy (98C, 35N nowadays) - SIGINTer, so the cord is "oriental" blue. Earned my silver spurs as an old 1SG; it was a fun/not fun experience. But you never quit and you lead from the front. Strykehorse 5-14 CAV now the 2-14 in Hawaii.

CPT L S - The Strykers do have infantryman and some wear their baby blue acorns -- That said, I was promoted out of a job, but my boys got their gold spurs and did well in Iraq -- so well that their SIGINT actions are forever memorialized on a trophy/plaque at the NSA. Additionally, the other platoons, UAV and CBRN set trailblazing standards for their actions. Truly a high water mark in a great career -- If you ain't CAV... ;-)

COL Sam Russell - Good article. My empathy frequently fails me as well when I lack sufficient commonality. So, I try to move past my knee jerk responses and rely on my reason. I prefer evidence before a conclusion, so I tend to discount untested hypotheses. Something is not true until sufficient and honest effort to prove it false has failed. I see a photo in which a group of West Point cadets who appear to be black women are posing for the camera and making a gesture. Beyond that, I know nothing. I could develop some hypotheses about meaning and intent, but feeling one way or the other about those doesn't make them true. So, a lot of people believe that this photo has meaning and some of them find something nefarious in the presumed meaning. Perhaps this warrants their chain of command looking into it. Beyond that, I'm not sure it matters what all of us who look at this photo think about it.

Sir that was a great article and touched in it, I think I need to explain what I meant that something should be done. Counseling not negative but, something that a PAO or Senior Offcier might give in unintended consequences. What the picture shows out of context is a group of Cadets creating a exclusionary group " insert group that you want the raised fist to stand for" What they did may have been innocent but a social media post in uniform has to abide by certain standards

That was an insightful observation, I appreciate that she took the time and made the effort to speak about the journey these women have taken based on her own personal experience. When I think back on her words and what the "fist" represents in my eyes she is right. I see it as a negative, that being said I can honestly say I've never seen it used in a positive manner. I'm left wondering do the graduates at Spelman, Hampton, Morehouse or Howard raise a fist with each graduating class instead of tossing their caps in the air? I'm not trying to find fault in the story as I think she did a great job expressing and sharing her thoughts. I am trying very hard to understand this notion of "It's a black thing you wouldn't understand" being an acceptable way to communicate the plight of black women attending West Point.

Incredible, inspiring story. However... West Point was a choice she made. The Army was a choice she made.

I was born with a congenital birth defect which made my right foot smaller and deformed (I don't have toes like everyone else) and my right leg lacks developed musculature and was shorter at birth. I grew up in a time where there was no PC-ness and I endured years of verbal abuse and ridicule. But I didn't let it get to me. I had surgery to correct my leg length, then waited 17 years for the opportunity to apply for a waiver to enlist. That finally came and I have just passed 9 years in the Army.

My physical deformities do indeed have a lot to do with who I am. However, they do NOT allow me to do what I want when I want how I want. I still have to purchase and wear approved footwear (two pairs at a time) and operate within the regulations. In fact, as a NCO, I have to live, demonstrate, and enforce the standard. I don't get to use my physical abnormalities in order to act outside the regulations nor standard. Have I been through a lot? Yes. Has footwear been a hassle and an expense for me? Yes. Does it give me the right to wear what I want? No, absolutely not. Why? Because I made a conscious decision, a CHOICE to join the Army and live by its rules and regulations. If I didn't want to do that, I wouldn't have joined. It really is that simple.

I thought the US Military was SUPPOSED to be colorblind....BUT then we do have Race/ethnic/gender quotas for promotions and awards....

SSG Roger Ayscue - Since congress is involved in shortsighted policy making directed at a very small percentage of the populace. It started in the 1990's and has been a cancer eating away at society and now the military. Racism knows no bounds and does not adhere to regulations, it is total hatred.

LTC (Join to see) - There is nothing remotely racist in the colonel's statements. On the contrary, he was addressing the racism institutionalized in affirmative action quotas, that are not only ineffective, but counterproductive in achieving fairness. Racism is appalling; and it is not any more acceptable when attached to a seemingly well-intended albeit completely misguided cause. Anything but a color-blind policy is a racist policy.

Maj Rob Drury - Very well said... Thank you.

They should not be allowed to commission if they are making a statement. Send them to their first commands at PFCs. We had another corpsman who was an academy midshipman who was dropped after his junior year. Sent him as enlisted.

You hit the nail on the head when you said in Obamas World. He has done more to divide the races then to unite us. And to show you how old fashion I am all physical stats have been lowered again and again to allow them to pass. I have never seen a 110lb. woman drag or carry a 225LB. combat man to safety. They do not belong on the front lines.

Sir... my Dad was class of '67. We both spoke about it and agreed essentially that perception is reality. The mere fact that some could view it as a Black Panthers salute(prevalent in my Dad's era) is enough to show that this was not a wise idea. Even if this is a BLM salute or an innocuous sign of unity really doesn't matter as the overall perception has run its course and we are all already having heated debate about it.

Did they break any UCMJ articles? That I don't know. I'm not interviewing them, and as you stated, we lack context. That being said, they probably shouldn't have taken the photo in the first place. At the least, they are likely guilty of poor judgment.

LTC (Join to see) - Some have also pointed out the the swastika started off as a legitimate symbol of something ages ago but was also co-opted by people who turned it into a de facto symbol of hate genocide and worse. Same has happened to the clenched fist of solidarity, mutual support and common purpose. It is a kind of perverted genius to take a perfectly honest and good symbol, dress it in a black glove, and associate it with violence and belligerent protest.

Sir, your training is coming along quite nicely.

SCPO (Join to see) - "It has also been adopted by the BLM movement, which is very vocal about a racist agenda against white America"

Can you source any of this. You can even include a rightwing source if you'd like. Also you should have clicked on the link, the author is clearly biased, you would have agreed with his opinion.

CPT Ahmed Faried -

Sir,
This is a response to your post here and in the SPC's thread.
Read this link if you have a moment: http://lelav.blogspot.com/2016/05/having-black-unity-and-pride-as-black.html That was not an erroneous connection.

Bottom line, it is not my skin color that sends black people to jail, its their crimes. There is a demand problem for racism in America today. Meaning, there is not enough racism to fit the national narrative of systemic oppression ( at least in my lifetime. ) I acknowledge history is full of racism. White America did not invent it, but white America did end it. There is pride in that for me whose ancestors fought in every war this country engaged in, including the civil war in the iron brigade. To use that history as an excuse represents a lack of personal responsibility and belittles decades of hard work by this country including heroes like Martin Luther King. Please don't forget my history of the story though. It was not a history of my people oppressing yours, it was a history of my people fighting for the betterment of black America and keeping the country together.

The fact is that the problems protested by BLM are cultural problems, and does nothing to solve the reality of the black community's problems. In fact, it propagates the problems and allows race pandering by an entire segment of mainstream politics that promises more free stuff rather than a real solution to drag the culture into mainstream productive society. Obviously these are averages and there are exceptions. That does not negate the problem or the solution. There are plenty of poor, criminal white people as well. They also tend to vote a certain way.

When BLM protests the decay of the black family home, high rates of criminals, high black on white and black on black murder, and low rates of high school drop grads, then I will listen. Why is a black on white murder never a hate crime, even when it happens 10x more than the opposite? For now, they have no more substance behind the movement than the KKK or any other terrorist organization. There is never any talk about Asian privilege. Or why the white and Asian populations have to score 30% better on tests for the same college or advanced schooling. Asians fit the criteria of white male privilege even more so that whites. They make more money, they go to jail less ect... BLM directs its hate at the biggest target.

There is a study that says you have to do four things and you will not be poor in America. It's simple. 1) graduate high school. 2) don't have children before marriage 3) stay married 4) get a job out of high school, even a minimum wage job to start, and keep working at job after job until you retire. If those 4 things happen, you WILL NOT be poor in America. If that happens for 2 generations, the family an be millionaires.

I do not believe in subsidizing denial. Don't tell me I can't comment or understand because of my skin color. That is a racist argument based in your own bubble of hate. It seems that the group doing the protesting doesn't even understand the true cause of their "oppression." But go ahead, keep blaming my skin color like a RACIST, I will continue to work hard every day and succeed because for me that is the only option.

SCPO (Join to see) - Women have done this since recorder time: Ishtar (English pronunciation /ˈɪʃtɑːr/; Transliteration: DIŠTAR; Akkadian: