Military schools' sly tricks to undermine Trump's anti-woke drive
Some of America's leading military schools are purportedly using sly tactics to circumvent a Trump administration ban on discussing politically divisive topics.
Cadets and staff at the U.S. Naval Academy have been forming chat groups to explore banned ideas such as critical race theory.
It comes as the president cracks down on diversity and social justice programs, with faculty reportedly flagging words including 'barrier,' 'Black,' 'allyship,' 'cultural differences' and 'The Gulf of Mexico.'
Professors have been told to teach that 'America and its founding documents remains the most powerful force for good in human history' after a memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
One unnamed professor told the Washington Post: 'We at the Naval Academy are here to prepare young officers to command.
'They need to know what we have learned from our study of politics and history and literature and languages.
'We are failing them and we are failing in our jobs if we suppress some things we know are true and we parrot other things we know are false.'
They also said that students are feeling conflicted about the possibility of being deployed under the current White House.
One professor said they had advised cadets to serve until they receive an order that they feel might be illegal.
He told them if that point comes to 'reject it rather than compromise yourself.'
Graham Parsons, a former professor of philosophy at West Point Military Academy, left his position earlier this month in protest over the changes to the curriculum.
He said that the entire U.S. armed forces have been left up in arms over Trump's reversal of DEI initiatives and social justice programs.
Parsons told the outlet: 'It's a feeling of real whiplash. We used to raise the possibility in the military and beyond, there are still real structural problems with racism and sexism. That would not fly now.'
He stood down from his post after writing a scathing opinion piece for The New York Times.
In it he said: 'I cannot tolerate these changes, which prevent me from doing my job responsibly. I am ashamed to be associated with the academy in its current form.'
Concerns: Many in the U.S. armed forces have been outraged by Trump's reversal of DEI and social justice schemes
Trump was at West Point Academy on Saturday to give a commencement speech in which he vowed to ditch DEI programs and support for transgender service people.
He said: 'We´re getting rid of distractions and we're focusing our military on its core mission: crushing America's adversaries, killing America's enemies and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before.
He later said that 'the job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows or transform foreign cultures,' a reference to drag shows on military bases that President Joe Biden's administration halted after Republican criticism.
Trump said the cadets were graduating at a 'defining moment' in Army history as he accused political leaders in the past of sending soldiers into 'nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us.'
He said he was clearing the military of transgender ideas, 'critical race theory' and types of training he called divisive and political.
Past administrations, he said, 'subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects and political causes while leaving our borders undefended and depleting our arsenals to fight other countries' wars.'
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