On Monday of last week, racial slurs were discovered on the dormitory message board of five black cadet candidates at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School located north of Colorado Springs, CO. The mother of one of the candidates posted a photo to her Facebook page showing that the phrase “go home n****er” had been written on the whiteboard outside of her son’s room.
In an interview with the Air Force Times, the father of the same candidate said that his son was doing well as the word “has zero power” in their household.[1] The father went on to conclude that the real victim of the written slurs is whoever wrote them. “That individual,” he told the Air Force Times, “is going to lose a promising career in the military [and] is going to go home disgraced.”[2] In what has become a viral video, shared thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, the academy’s new superintendent condemned the slurs. Lt. General Jay Silveria, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1985 was announced as the replacement for Lt. General Michelle Johnson, the school’s first female superintendent. “There is absolutely no place in our Air Force for racism,” Silveria said in his videoed statement. Surrounded by administrative colleagues and all 4,000 of the preparatory school’s cadets, Silveria affirmed the Air Force’s commitment to diversity. Before concluding his statement, he gave everyone present a moment to take out their phones. “Keep my words…share them and talk about them,” he continued as spectators filmed him. “If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out.” Lt. Col. Allen Heritage, director of the academy’s public affairs, has said that the academy’s security forces are investigating the incident. No additional information can be released at this time. Watch Lt. Gen. Silveria’s statement here. Yasmine Palmer [1] Air Force Times [2] Ibid.
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