Army says diversity training sent wrong signal

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**Jihadin**

Saw this on Fox News this morning but this is from USAToday

WASHINGTON — Army officials are investigating a diversity training briefing at Fort Gordon, Ga., in which a slide about "white privilege" was inappropriately shown to soldiers, according to an Army spokeswoman

The Equal Opportunity briefing took place Thursday for about 400 soldiers of the 67th Signal Battalion, Capt. Lindsay Roman, an Army spokeswoman, said Friday. The slide titled "The Luxury of Obliviousness" has bullet-point items about "white privilege."

One item reads, "Race privilege gives whites little reason to pay a lot of attention to African Americans or to how white privilege affects them. 'To be white in America means not having to think about it.' "

An image of the slide appeared later Thursday on a Facebook page and generated a torrent of negative comments about political correctness run amok.

The presentation was not authorized, nor was it part of the standard slides shown to soldiers, Roman said.

"The unit (Equal Opportunity) instructor deviated from the authorized topic and content which was provided," Roman said. "To prevent further instances, all unit instructors will receive additional training on the importance of following Army EO training requirements."

The slide appears to have been adapted from work by Allan Johnson, a sociologist and author, according to Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman. Johnson, in an email, said the concept is consistent with his work. Although he noted that part of the quote should be attributed to author James Baldwin.

The Army, Roman said, is committed to offering all soldiers equal opportunity.

"The Army reflects the diversity of American society," she said. "We are all members of one team."

The Army has struggled with diversity in its ranks for decades. It is of particular concern among the service's top leadership. Last year, USA TODAY reported the command of the Army's main combat units had only a few black officers. Less than 10% of the active-duty Army's officers are black compared with 18% of its enlisted soldiers, according to the Army.

EO lost his/her frame of mind at that time

**Manchu**

'To be white in America means not having to think about it.'

That's ... correct. But I can see how it might be bad to tell soldiers the truth. Along the same lines, the military wouldn't spend a lot of time showing soldiers slides about how unpopular wars are.

**Frazzled**

Manchu wrote:
'To be white in America means not having to think about it.'
That's ... correct. But I can see how it might be bad to tell soldiers the truth. Along the same lines, the military wouldn't spend a lot of time showing soldiers slides about how unpopular wars are.

At Alamo Drafthouse, in the interim before the show they always play something vaguely related to the upcoming movie. For It follows they were showing old Navy anti VD PA's.
That would seem to have more relevance when your job is to kill people and break things (or deliver MREs).

"Remember in America to be white means not having to think about it. Now time to launch some Tomahawks."

EDIT: If you have the means I would recommend It Follows. Its not very scary but its quite surreal.

**Jihadin**

The One Team concept is also in play. EO just bolo the delivery on a subject matter that is not part of EO training all soldiers received every four months.

**hotsauceman1**

It's kinda true, being white in America mean you have certain advantages, but it doesn't mean you have any sort of privilege.

**Slarg232**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
It's kinda true, being white in America mean you have certain advantages, but it doesn't mean you have any sort of privilege.

So does being black....

**hotsauceman1**

Not really. Not a whole lost of advantages for being black in america.you actually have disadvantages

**Slarg232**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
Not really. Not a whole lost of advantages for being black in america.you actually have disadvantages

You can say so, but you'd be wrong

**hotsauceman1**

Ok.
A black person is more likely to get jail time for the same offense as a white person.
They are also more likely to be stopped by police.
also a white person with a criminal record are more likely to get a job then a black person without one.

**Slarg232**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
Ok.
A black person is more likely to get jail time for the same offense as a white person.
They are also more likely to be stopped by police.
also a white person with a criminal record are more likely to get a job then a black person without one.

Ok
A Black person is more likely to get aide for college tuition than a white person.
A Black person wins all ties in employment jockey-ing simply for being black and "promoting diversity".
Trayvon Martin and Micheal Brown have shown that "That poor innocent black kid was killed just for being black" is a popular story still.

**Jihadin**

Regardless of offense. I do not care what race one is. Your late three times to formation without an good excuse I will recommend UCMJ actions. 14 days restriction, 14 days extra duty.

**Laemos**

Black children drop out at higher rate than white. Is this a white privelage? Does higher drop out rate skew interpolation of what is privelage?

**hotsauceman1**

Slarg232 wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
Ok.
A black person is more likely to get jail time for the same offense as a white person.
They are also more likely to be stopped by police.
also a white person with a criminal record are more likely to get a job then a black person without one.

Ok
A Black person is more likely to get aide for college tuition than a white person.
A Black person wins all ties in employment jockey-ing simply for being black and "promoting diversity".
Trayvon Martin and Micheal Brown have shown that "That poor innocent black kid was killed just for being black" is a popular story still.

I'm surexpensive all that makes up for the fact that disenfrancised people are only slightly disenfrancised less now. Woot, racism is over.
ok, to the first, people of color still only hold less than 30% of bachelor's degrees. But nope, racism is over because we have a black president.

**Frazzled**

Jihadin wrote:
Regardless of offense. I do not care what race one is. Your late three times to formation without an good excuse I will recommend UCMJ actions. 14 days restriction, 14 days extra duty.

Wussy. Dad would have stuffed you in a footlocker and thrown you down some stairs as a positive motivational tool.

**Jihadin**

Frazzled wrote:
Jihadin wrote:
Regardless of offense. I do not care what race one is. Your late three times to formation without an good excuse I will recommend UCMJ actions. 14 days restriction, 14 days extra duty.

Wussy. Dad would have stuffed you in a footlocker and thrown you down some stairs as a positive motivational tool.

Wall to Wall Counseling are no longer allowed.............now School of Soldiering is quite effective to

**d-usa**

Slarg232 wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
It's kinda true, being white in America mean you have certain advantages, but it doesn't mean you have any sort of privilege.

So does being black....

Slarg232 wrote:

A Black person is more likely to get aide for college tuition than a white person.

The vast majority of aid is need based and is awarded identically to 100% of college students who all apply the same way: by filling out the FAFSA. Then everybody gets aid based on one simple concept: need due to income. Race doesn't really have anything to do with it. But if you are poor you are more likely to receive the full $2880 Pell Grant award per semester, which will really go a long way towards paying your average tuition of $9,000.

Then there are private scholarships which also have an interesting trend if you look at the actual numbers:

These statistics demonstrate that, as a whole, private sector scholarship programs tend to perpetuate
historical inequities in the distribution of scholarships according to race. This does not appear to be due to
deliberate discrimination, but rather as a natural result of the personal interests of the scholarship
sponsors. Scholarship sponsors tend to establish scholarships that select for characteristics, activities and
talents of interest to them. These factors, in turn, tend to resonate with students of the same racial
background as the sponsor. For example, African-American students are much less likely to participate in
equestrian sports (horseback riding, polo, rodeo), water sports (scuba diving, sailing, surfing, swimming,
crew, water polo) and winter sports (ice hockey, skiing, snowboarding, figure skating) than Caucasian
students. They are much more likely to pursue basketball, track & field, handball and football. The
sponsors of rodeo scholarships aren’t motivated by a desire to indirectly discriminate against minority
students; they just like to promote rodeo. But the net result is that private scholarships as a whole
disproportionately select for Caucasian students. Similarly, golf, archery, cycling, weight lifting and
wrestling scholarships tend to implicitly select for Caucasian students.

A Black person wins all ties in employment jockey-ing simply for being black and "promoting diversity".

Maybe if you are lucky enough to have your resume selected in the first place instead of it being automatically rejected because your name is ethnic sounding.

Trayvon Martin and Micheal Brown have shown that "That poor innocent black kid was killed just for being black" is a popular story still.

Doesn't really make the corpses any less dead though...

But please, tell us more about these factual benefits of being black!

Edit: As for the original article:

If anybody should know better than to mess with "official" talking point or powerpoint slides it should be someone in the military...

**Slarg232**

Spoiler:

d-usa wrote:
Slarg232 wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
It's kinda true, being white in America mean you have certain advantages, but it doesn't mean you have any sort of privilege.

So does being black....

Slarg232 wrote:

A Black person is more likely to get aide for college tuition than a white person.

The vast majority of aid is need based and is awarded identically to 100% of college students who all apply the same way: by filling out the FAFSA. Then everybody gets aid based on one simple concept: need due to income. Race doesn't really have anything to do with it. But if you are poor you are more likely to receive the full $2880 Pell Grant award per semester, which will really go a long way towards paying your average tuition of $9,000.

Then there are private scholarships which also have an interesting trend if you look at the actual numbers:

These statistics demonstrate that, as a whole, private sector scholarship programs tend to perpetuate
historical inequities in the distribution of scholarships according to race. This does not appear to be due to
deliberate discrimination, but rather as a natural result of the personal interests of the scholarship
sponsors. Scholarship sponsors tend to establish scholarships that select for characteristics, activities and
talents of interest to them. These factors, in turn, tend to resonate with students of the same racial
background as the sponsor. For example, African-American students are much less likely to participate in
equestrian sports (horseback riding, polo, rodeo), water sports (scuba diving, sailing, surfing, swimming,
crew, water polo) and winter sports (ice hockey, skiing, snowboarding, figure skating) than Caucasian
students. They are much more likely to pursue basketball, track & field, handball and football. The
sponsors of rodeo scholarships aren’t motivated by a desire to indirectly discriminate against minority
students; they just like to promote rodeo. But the net result is that private scholarships as a whole
disproportionately select for Caucasian students. Similarly, golf, archery, cycling, weight lifting and
wrestling scholarships tend to implicitly select for Caucasian students.

A Black person wins all ties in employment jockey-ing simply for being black and "promoting diversity".

Maybe if you are lucky enough to have your resume selected in the first place instead of it being automatically rejected because your name is ethnic sounding.

Trayvon Martin and Micheal Brown have shown that "That poor innocent black kid was killed just for being black" is a popular story still.

Doesn't really make the corpses any less dead though...

But please, tell us more about these factual benefits of being black!

Edit: As for the original article:

If anybody should know better than to mess with "official" talking point or powerpoint slides it should be someone in the military...

Are you kidding?

African-American students are much less likely to participate

I wonder if THAT has anything to do with scholarships.

In your own link we have

Black Students more likely to pursue:

basketball, track & field, handball and football

White Students also pursuing:

horseback riding, polo, rodeo, scuba diving, sailing, surfing, swimming, crew, water polo, ice hockey, skiing, snowboarding, figure skating.

Clearly the reason more white students are getting scholarships is because they are white, no?

**Frazzled**

horseback riding, polo, rodeo, scuba diving, sailing, surfing, swimming, crew, water polo, ice hockey, skiing, snowboarding, figure skating.

We just had:
*Mastadon riding
*Hyenadon races (loser gets eaten)

**Peregrine**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
It's kinda true, being white in America mean you have certain advantages, but it doesn't mean you have any sort of privilege.

Err, did you really just say "being white means you have privileges, but it doesn't mean you have privileges"?

**Frazzled**

Peregrine wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
It's kinda true, being white in America mean you have certain advantages, but it doesn't mean you have any sort of privilege.

Err, did you really just say "being white means you have privileges, but it doesn't mean you have privileges"?

I think thats whats called a head fake.

**hotsauceman1**

There is a difference between advantage and privilege.

**Jihadin**

How does that apply to the military?

**Peregrine**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
There is a difference between advantage and privilege.

What exactly do you think "privilege" means, if not "advantage"?

**d-usa**

Slarg232 wrote:

Are you kidding?

African-American students are much less likely to participate

I wonder if THAT has anything to do with scholarships.

Nope.

In your own link we have

Black Students more likely to pursue:

basketball, track & field, handball and football

White Students also pursuing:

horseback riding, polo, rodeo, scuba diving, sailing, surfing, swimming, crew, water polo, ice hockey, skiing, snowboarding, figure skating.

Clearly the reason more white students are getting scholarships is because they are white, no?

No.White Students are getting more private scholarships because most private scholarships are merit-based and include activities that traditionally have a white demographic. To quote the article again:

The sponsors of rodeo scholarships aren’t motivated by a desire to indirectly discriminate against minority students; they just like to promote rodeo.

Now, if at any point you want to bring any kind of actual evidence into this discussion please feel free to do so. But at this point the evidence stands as follows:

You: "A Black person is more likely to get aide for college tuition than a white person."

Actual Evidence:
- Need based grants and scholarships: Mostly White
- Merit based scholarships: Mostly White
- Academic scholarships: Mostly White

I eagerly await part three of the epic sage about the privileged life of the African American in United States Academia.

**NuggzTheNinja**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
It's kinda true, being white in America mean you have certain advantages, but it doesn't mean you have any sort of privilege.

It also means that you do not have other advantages.

"We have to meet our hiring quota of white people," said no HR employee, ever...

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but am I the only person here who thinks that the business of the military is too win wars and kill enemy soldiers? Or is that too radical?

I'm not against diversity, but this is the same US military that told aircrew not to write offensive messages on its bombs during the Vietnam war, so I'm not sure what their priorities are!

**NuggzTheNinja**

Peregrine wrote:
hotsauceman1 wrote:
There is a difference between advantage and privilege.

What exactly do you think "privilege" means, if not "advantage"?

They have completely different meanings according to the dictionary.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but am I the only person here who thinks that the business of the military is too win wars and kill enemy soldiers? Or is that too radical?

I'm not against diversity, but this is the same US military that told aircrew not to write offensive messages on its bombs during the Vietnam war, so I'm not sure what their priorities are!

The real point of war is to line the pockets of reflective PT belt manufacturers.

**Bran Dawri**

Well, a privilege is a right or benefit given to some but not others.
While this can certainly be an advantage (sometimes a privilege comes with strings attached, hence the "can"), not every advantage is born from a privilege.

**Frazzled**

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but am I the only person here who thinks that the business of the military is too win wars and kill enemy soldiers? Or is that too radical?

I'm not against diversity, but this is the same US military that told aircrew not to write offensive messages on its bombs during the Vietnam war, so I'm not sure what their priorities are!

Look at a B-52 in person and I think priorities will become quite clear...

**Kilkrazy**

To be honest there is a vast amount of well founded research that shows the comparative advantages or privileges of being white in the USA. That is not to say there are no poor whites or rich blacks.

As for the army case, I believe it is counterproductive to blame white soldiers for being white, it simply emphasises the differences and leads to stronger group formation. It would be better to ignore differences and concentrate on everyone being part of the same team.