All Things Soldier: “The Luxury Of Obliviousness”

Martin Luther King, it is time to roll over yet again in your grave. The nefarious NCOs who are part of the EO’s (Equal Opportunity) division of the Army have struck once more, and have shown contempt both for you and your dream. This time they conducted psychological warfare against our soldiers at a base in Georgia, and because someone in the room had a cell phone, took a picture from the Power Point presentation that was rich with racism, and posted it on Facebook, maybe, just maybe justice will be served, and freedom will be allowed to ring loud and clear in the United States Army.

The tirade was not even remotely subtle, and thankfully, the soldiers themselves, warriors of every color, stood up to it and risked disciplinary action. Here’s what went down. A non-commissioned officer went “waaay off the reservation” by insulting the entire room with the following travesty of “diversity training” with the dubious title of “The Luxury Of Obliviousness.” One of the slides said this:

“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 American (sic) means not having to think about it.’”

Anyone who knows me knows I am often not the biggest fan of Facebook, but in this case, I was thrilled both at its existence as well as its usefulness as a weapon. Soldiers were swift to push back, and here is some of what they said:

“That should be instant UCMJ and Dishonorable Discharge for the instructor who deviated in this manner,” George Stevens
“Pretty sick of hearing about white privilege. Nearly my entire chain of command and NCO support channel have been Hispanic or black since I joined,” Tim Wilson Jr.
“True story: I went to a forced EEO class and the white female SSG said we white folks were a problem. I looked around the room and everyone of every race were rolling their eyes,” Scott Hampton Truelove recalled. “We of all races went fishing, eating out, having BBQs, went to the club, together. We all never had a problem with race. We as a group stood up and walked out. She was cutting into our beer drinking time.” Anonymous

Brave souls, these beer-drinking buddies. If you walk out on a mandatory training session, you can be in big trouble big time with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The blessing is that this is so completely out of line that it looks like something is going to be done about it. An officer by the name of Captain Roman said this to USA Today:
“The unit (Equal Opportunity) instructor deviated from the authorized topic and content which was provided. To prevent further instances, all unit instructors will receive additional training on the importance of following Army EO training requirements.”

Translation: Now taxpayer money must be spent to enlighten Army educators with this newsflash: It’s actually wrong to discriminate against people because of the color of their skin! If this weren’t so evil and nuts, it would actually be funny. I just hope Rev King can get some rest, knowing that sin has been electronically shouted from the rooftops because someone dared to speak out at the risk of harming or possibly ending their military career.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner