Another disloyal general puts critical race theory ahead of national security.
BY DANIEL GREENFIELD
SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/07/general-raymond-takes-space-force-war-against-daniel-greenfield/;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
[Editor's note: The article below is a new edition of our Disloyal Military series. To learn about our 3-Part Series on the Disloyal Military, Progressive Fascists and Racist Mayors, CLICK HERE.]
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
The Space Force was created at the end of 2019. Six months later it declared war on “racism”.
“Racism is an enemy," Gen. John Raymond and Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman declared, disabusing anyone who might have thought the military enemy was Communist China, Iran, Russia, or any of the other antagonists that the Space Force was tasked with countering.
While the People's Republic of China was deploying its series of Long March rockets, Black Lives Matter mobs were wrecking American cities and Gen. Raymond was focused on pandering to the racist mob. As China deployed its first Mars mission, and its first reusable spacecraft, and launched communications satellites, the Space Force obsessed over diversity.
"We must build diversity and inclusion into our 'cultural DNA' -- make it one of the bedrock strengths of our service,” Raymond insisted in his co-signed letter to the Space Force.
The Space Force letter falsely claiming that George Floyd's drug overdose death was "against the founding principles of our nation" and that racism is a "reality for many" was rushed out a few days after a Black Lives Matter mob set fire to the White House gatehouse and tried to start a fire in the Church of Presidents. It came out ahead of most service branch statements.
Gen. Raymond, the Chief of Space Operations, told the ‘guardians’ of the Space Force that their oath to protect and defend the Constitution meant racism was "an enemy we must defeat" by fighting unconscious biases and owning the problem by having "uncomfortable conversations." Buzz words like “unconscious bias” and “implicit bias” and “structural racism” (illegal under the 1964 Civil Rights Act) give the ideological game away. When there are no significant racists, the promoters of systemic racism conspiracy theories claim that they’re hiding in the shadows.
The oath to protect the Constitution was being twisted to push the anti-white racism of the left known as critical race theory.
Raymond made no mention of the military’s responsibility to defend the United States government against the brutal assaults of the leftists and racists he was disloyally standing with. When Black Lives Matter mobs were threatening to burn the White House, General Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, refused President Trump’s request for troops to defend the White House.
The Space Force put political correctness out front early on by adopting the genderless term ‘Guardian’ to replace the political incorrectness of the Air Force’s traditional term ‘Airman’. In the wake of the BLM race riots, the Space Force went even further by suggesting that it would not only pursue affirmative action promotions based on skin color and gender rather than merit but also drop qualifying tests for promotions.
The only qualifications the Space Force was interested in were one’s gender and skin color.
Carrie Baker, the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Space Force, who had pioneered the Air Force Academy’s first ”unconscious bias” training curriculum, was lecturing once again on the alleged racism that dare not show its face. Major General Leah Lauderback launched a Space Force LGBTQ affinity group focused on cultural change, warning that there are, "hearts and minds that you need to change". But first "gendered language" like "mothers of preschoolers" had to go.
Gen. Raymond described her as a “true inspiration” for leading the “LGBTQ Initiatives Team.”
As the Space Force adopted leftist identity politics, conservatives who spoke out were ruthlessly dealt with. When Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, criticized the radicalization of the military in his book, Irresistible Revolution: Marxism's Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military, he was quickly removed from his post, where he headed a unit whose vital task was identifying and tracking ballistic missile launches.
Lohmeier described his base commander sending out documentaries which supported Black Lives Matter and attacked President Trump, and spoke of the “intensive teaching that I heard at my base—that at the time the country ratified the United States Constitution, it codified white supremacy as the law of the land.” This was critical race theory Marxism, whose lies were aimed at sapping the morale of America’s military and undermining the determination of its members to defend their country.
After discussing the leftist invasion of the military on a podcast, Lohmeier was removed by Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting for being "partisan." Whiting had previously complained about the "uneven distribution of opportunity" in the United States (also illegal if such a distribution was institutionally imposed) while calling for more diversity. That was not considered political or partisan. General Raymond’s smear of police officers and allegations of systemic racism were also not seen as partisan. This was part of a larger pattern.
Former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Goldfein had faced no consequences for urging that "every American should be outraged" by Floyd's death, and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright was not disciplined for touting socialist rapper and racist Killer Mike as a model.
Rep. Mo Brooks provided other examples of "very public statements made by many senior leaders while in uniform" and warned that "we cannot allow temporary political appointees at the Department of Defense who are ideologically motivated to purge those men and women in uniform who do not agree with the cultural or political fads of the moment."
Unfortunately, that is exactly what is taking place.
Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Ramon Colon-Lopez, the most senior enlisted service member and the top adviser to General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had told the troops that Black Lives Matter was exempt from the military's apolitical nature. "There were people advocating [against] social injustice, racial injustice and everything else," Colon-Lopez argued while contending that "we needed to educate" younger troops on the difference.
The difference was that the anti-American, criminally violent Black Lives Matter vigilantes had the support of the top military brass.
Lohmeier's case was assigned to the Air Force's Office of the Inspector General which had also been tasked with producing the controversial report alleging systemic racism in the Air Force.
The investigation into a critic of critical race theory had been handed over to an office whose mission was upholding the false systemic racism premise of critical race theory. To repeat: “systemic racism” was outlawed under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. If it existed there would be a flood of lawsuits and billions of dollars in penalties. There is no such flood because there is no “systemic racism” except in the ideologically twisted minds of leftists and the people they seduce.
Lt. Gen. Sami D. Said, the Inspector General of the Air Force, acted as an advocate, rather than an impartial figure, talking to the Washington Post about the "pent-up angst" of those who "wanted their voices heard" – as though anyone but the military brass itself was seeking to silence anyone on the basis of gender or skin color. Like Nancy Pelosi or some other Democrat Party spokesperson, Said also accused Attorney General William Barr of misusing his authority by trying to defend Washington D.C. against the Black Lives Matter riots.
After the release of Said’s racial disparity report, Gen. Raymond demanded that “leaders at all levels must commit to having tough conversations, learning about racial disparities”. Again, this was Marxist propaganda. “Racial disparities” is a term of art that obscures individual accountabilities and ascribes them to groups. Only 20% of black Americans for example live below the poverty line on welfare. If 80% of blacks are productive citizens, how is the poverty of some a “racial disparity?”
“Accountability begins with us,” he warned, using the jargon of diversity trainers. But accountability for what?
The Space Force’s leadership had decided to become the most radical part of the military through identity politics. Its all-female unit, and its emphasis on the gender, sexual orientation and race of those it was promoting were divisive and undermined readiness, unit cohesion and morale.
In the Space Force and across the military, “diversity and inclusion,” bland terms which concealed the poisonous agendas of Marxist race theory, had become defined as the official mission. And opposition to the new mission of identity politics was swiftly punished no matter how obvious the double standard, or the destructive impact on national security.
Truth was the first casualty, but national security was the second casualty of the war from within.
"It is President Trump's belief that the United States must remain as dominant in space as we are on land and sea and the air," Vice-President Pence had told Gen. Raymond before he took his oath. "And your charge is to see to that mission with the United States Space Force."
"The best way I know how to do that is to do so from a position of strength," Gen. Raymond had assured him.
But there’s little strength to be seen in the Space Force under Raymond’s leadership.
Gen. Raymond has spent far more time pushing the divisive agendas of the diversity Marxists than strength. His wife, Mollie, in her role as the "Official Spouse", encouraged Space Force personnel to take a survey with critical race theory dogma answers such as, "this colorblind mentality erases a piece of my identity" which asked them if they had "advocated to fix issues caused by structural/systemic racism."
For the diversity Marxists in the military, Martin Luther King’s vision of a color-blind society is actually racist. Colorblindness was Martin Luther King Jr’s dream. It’s the foundation of meritocracy and a thoroughly integrated and cohesive American community. The alternatives are the racial quotas and perpetual victimhood that the Space Force has embraced.
“We honor equality, while we continue to fight for it every day,” Gen. Raymond had declared, implying that America was still unequal and there was a perpetual war to wage.
Instead of fighting to protect America, the Space Force is fighting America.
While America’s Communist enemies advance in space, the Space Force is busy pushing Marxist dogma here on earth. Under Gen. Raymond, what was once an ambitious America First plan has become mired in identity politics, purging its best and brightest, like Lt. Col. Lohmeier, while turning our national security over to diversity experts. As China continues its long march into space, the Left is carrying on its long racist march through the Space Force.
