want to murder millions of Negros?
According to Army Command Policy, soldiers -- including cadets at the academy -- may "register, vote, and express their personal opinion on political candidates and issues, but not as a representative of the Army."
Further guidelines prohibit soldiers from joining groups, deemed extremist, that "promote or threaten the unlawful use of force or violence."
"Enforcement of this policy... is vitally important to unit cohesion and morale, and is essential to the Army's ability to accomplish its mission," the policy reads.
The clenched fist salute, most famously associated with the Black Power movement of the '60s and '70s, has been used as an expression of solidarity within countless causes.
The Negro Abraham Lincoln
Fake President
The Obama Negro Army
Disgraced Their Education and American Citizenship
Negro's Not To Be Trusted with Arms
It's a time-honored tradition
at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York -- graduating seniors in
small groups don their ceremonial high-collared uniforms and pose for a photo
in front of historic Nininger Hall.
Their poses are typically stern
and stoic, mimicking sepia-toned editions that date back to the 1800s.
They do not typically raise a
clenched fist in the air.
So when a photo of 16 female, Negro African-American cadets making the gesture was posted online last month, it
raised eyebrows at the elite training academy, which produces many of the
nation's future military leaders.
The photo circulated among
students over social media, said a school representative. Soon, it grew into an
on-campus controversy -- a potential break in the taboo against advocacy by
military personnel.
The photo gained national
attention last week when a blogger popular among some in the military wrote
about it after multiple cadets sent in the photo, according to the blog's
author. In posts on his blog and on his Facebook account, John Burk called the
image a "completely unprofessional" reference to the Black Lives
Matter movement. The Facebook post drew hundreds of comments and was shared
more than 1,400 times.
In days since, scores of alumni
have lined up in support of the young women, who have not spoken publicly about
the photo or been identified by West Point. Meanwhile, the school said it is
investigating whether the photo violates the military's restrictions on
political expression.
Mary Tobin is a graduate of the
academy who said she is a mentor to some of the women in the photo and has
spoken to them since the inquiry was launched. She said the pose had nothing to
do with politics.
"They weren't doing it to
be aligned with any particular movement or any particular party. It was, 'We
did it and we did it together,'" Tobin said, referring to their completion
of four years at West Point.
On-campus controversy grows
wider
Under scrutiny is an "Old
Corps Photo," as the graduation tradition is referred to at the school. It
shows the African-American women in sharp, gray uniforms, each with a fist held
at face level.
It was taken as part of a
series, as is custom for various groups in the graduating class. The cadets in
the photo posted it to Facebook along with other stills from the shoot, alumni
who know the women said.
Sue Fulton, a West Point alumna
and member of the school's board of visitors who said she is friends with some
cadets in the picture, saw the group's photos and shared her favorite one. It
featured the same group of 16 women in a more standard Old Corps pose, each
looking serious and gripping her ceremonial saber.
"THIS. Fearless, flawless,
fierce. Ready," Fulton wrote. That photo was retweeted by Patrick Murphy,
acting secretary of the Army.
Meanwhile, the photo of the
cadets with their hands raised in a knuckled salute was making the rounds in
different circles.
After gaining attention on
social media, the raised-fist photo made its way to academy officials, who on
April 28, opened an inquiry, said Lt. Colonel Christopher Kasker, spokesman for
the school.
Kasker did not specify whether
the inquiry could result in disciplinary action for the cadets, who were
described by Fulton and others who knew them as athletes and campus leaders.
According to Army Command
Policy, soldiers -- including cadets at the academy -- may "register,
vote, and express their personal opinion on political candidates and issues,
but not as a representative of the Army."
Further guidelines prohibit
soldiers from joining groups, deemed extremist, that "promote or threaten
the unlawful use of force or violence."
"Enforcement of this
policy... is vitally important to unit cohesion and morale, and is essential to
the Army's ability to accomplish its mission," the policy reads.
The clenched fist salute, most
famously associated with the Black Power movement of the '60s and '70s, has
been used as an expression of solidarity within countless causes. Beyoncé and
her backup dancers notably made the gesture in a performance at this year's
Super Bowl halftime show.
The gesture is also reminiscent
of the iconic sports photograph from the 1968 Mexico Olympics in which U.S.
sprinter Tommie Smith stood defiantly during his medal ceremony, head bowed,
his black-gloved fist thrust into the air. Behind him, fellow-American John
Carlos joined with his own Black Power salute, an act aimed at highlighting
segregation and racism.
'About personal triumph, not
about politics'
The young women in the photo
comprise 16 of 18 female Negro and Rasist Army
Trained African-American radical cadets set to graduate later this
month -- out of a class of more than 900.
For West Point alumna Tobin, an
African-American woman who now works in Washington, training as a minority at
West Point in the early 2000s carried an extra burden.
"It's part of the old
adage that black people are taught: We have got to work twice as hard,"
she said.
A post she shared on Facebook
on Thursday, titled "This is Not About a Fist," was shared hundreds
of times and drew dozens of comments in support.
"I refuse to allow my
young West Point sisters to be railroaded, ostracized, demonized, degraded, and
humiliated without speaking up on their behalf," she wrote. "They are
proud. Point blank. And while I would not have advised them to display 'the
fist' while taking this traditional picture, my advice would've been solely
rooted in the fact that we exist in a very racially and politically charged
environment and not everyone will understand what you meant."
In another blog post, alum Sam
Jackson, a civilian pastor who lives in Wisconsin, said when he attended the
academy in the 1980s, minorities were expected "to help the military sort
out their racial problems." That expectation, though, meant he was left to
face racial slurs on his own, Jackson said.
"It was an ongoing 'Jackie
Robinson' type of expectation, with the acceptance of the assignment largely
assumed, and not offered. ... Demonstrating racial pride in such an environment
can be tricky, and protesting racial mistreatment can seem totally off
limits," he wrote.
Fulton, the school board
member, urged people not to jump to conclusions.
"For all their training,
cadets sometimes do things without thinking. Cadets sometimes act out of their
youthful exuberance without understanding some of the consequences," said
Fulton, who is not involved in the investigation and said she was speaking
outside of her official capacity.
She added, "This is about
their personal triumph, not about politics."
.
