Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pinned down Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on his embrace of critical race theory and other left-wing policies that were undermining military strength and cohesion during an Armed Services Committee hearing.
Cotton called the theory “a very specific kind of anti-American indoctrination that is seeping in to some parts of our military based on the whistleblower complaints we have received.”
He cited “reports of plummeting morale, growing mistrust between the races and the sexes where none existed just six months ago, and unexpected separations and retirements based on these trainings alone,” as a prelude to asking Austin if he thought that the US military was a fundamentally racist organization.
Well worth the watch. This is only a fraction of what we received in the whistleblower effort, which has exposed an extremely disturbing trend in military culture. We will continue to expose it and fight back. https://t.co/DczBS46yiW
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) June 10, 2021
While Austin equivocated to some extent, he eventually agreed that the U.S. military is not racist organization.
“The military, like any organization, will have its challenges,” he said, “but I do not believe it is a fundamentally racist organization.”
In February, Austin controversially approved a military-wide stand-down, during which he demanded that service members engage in open dialogue about issues such as “white supremacy” and “extremism” that Austin and other radical leftists claimed were endemic in its ranks.
At issue in the hearings were reports from airmen, junior officers, Naval cadets and other front-rank service members that they had been subjected to racist exercises seeking to “rewrite America’s history as a fundamentally racist and evil nation,” according to Cotton’s accounts of whistleblowers accusations about new race training in the military.
One cadet complained that the Naval Academy now teaches that America is fundamentally a racist country and that the view is not contested by school administrators according to Cotton, who is, himself, a distinguished Army veteran.
But Cotton often had to coax the secretary of Defense out of his own race-hustling comfort zone.
Sen. Cotton: Do you believe that any member of the military should be treated differently based on their skin color or sex? Again, yes or no will do.
Secretary Austin: Again, this question deserves more than a yes or no answer.
Sen. Cotton: I am sorry to cut you off. Our time is limited. It is a very simple question. Should a member of the organization you lead be treated differently, in violation of the Constitution I would add, based on their sex or the color of their skin?
Secretary Austin: No, I do not believe that. And that is why we have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion focus in the military.
Cotton also took issue with assigning black-liberation radical Ibram X. Kendi as required reading for members of the military.
“Mr. Kendi has written: ‘The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.’ The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination. Do you agree with that proposition?” Cotton asked Austin.
“I have not read that. I certainly don’t agree with what you just said,” Austin answered before equivocating. “It’s always important to have the full context of anything that you are being asked to evaluate.”
Earlier this week Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., introduced legislation that would prohibit teaching critical race theory in the military, reported WSAV.
The bill directs Austin to issue guidance that would “ban the usage of any teaching methodology that promotes or causes a racial divide or lack of equality; provide an updated notice that all races within the military will be treated equally; and update all service members on the core tenets of the United States military,” it said.
