Anthony Brian Logan
@AnthonyBrianLogan·1.1M subscribers·6.1K videos
Black Lives Matter at West Point Military Academy
Posted
May 9, 2016
Views
17,686
Likes
399
Comments
318
Engagement
May 9, 2016
17,686
399
318
4.05%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
12:24Now PlayingA controversial photo has arisen of 16 black women with their fists raised in Army Uniform at West Point Military Academy. West Point is a college environment unlike the majority of college campuses in the United States, in that any political affiliations, protests, are banned on campus. The Department of Defense (DoD) also states that a person is not allowed to make a political statement of any sort while in military uniform. This creates issues in which the women featured in this photograph are going to have to face.
The first issue is the moral outrage. A popular fitness blogger and Army Veteran, John Burk, wrote an op-ed style blog on his website decrying the photograph as against what the military is all about (unity) and being against DoD regulations.
The second point is obviously the rule violation. The photos were taken as part of a long-standing tradition at West Point, which is to don the old-school grey Uniforms to take graduation photos in front of the very historic Nininger Hall. Which means the class of women in the photo are going to graduate this year, 2016. The rule violation could place them in a situation where they are expelled from the school, unable to graduate just two weeks before they are scheduled.
It would be unfortunate if these women were not allowed to graduate, or if another possibly career-altering result would arise, but what are the alternatives? If allowed to go unfettered, this action could spur other actions, such as a group of white males displaying the Nazi/Aryan extended palm salute. Nobody would try to understand the dynamics of the photo, and rightfully so. However, it would be unfair for that photo to be punished severely while the photo of the black women raising the black power fist goes unchallenged.
Whatever the solution and/or response to the photo is, it must be something that the Army and the DoD in general is willing to live with for other similar cases. Not to say that the Nazi/Aryan salute is the exact same thing as the Black Power/Black Unity Fist... however... they are both political statements that are against regulations. They must be treated the same in the eyes of the authority that will rule on them. If not, what you're going to have is race-based discipline, which truly has no place in the United States Military.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
If you want to support me to continue to crank out these videos, please visit my website
and click on that donate button for me!
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
You can catch me micro-blogging on a near 24/7basis on my social media platforms:
Please take a moment and subscribe to my YouTube channel:
Stay tuned to my website for more updates as they come in!
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Black West Point cadets under scrutiny for raised fists in photo
Black cadets cause West Point stir with raised fists
Black Lives Matter's website
John Burk's blog: Racism Within West Point
This is Not About a Fist
Drill Sergeant John Burk Defends Controversial “Fat-Shaming” Video ( John Burk "The Drs" Appearance)
Raised-Fist Photo by Black Women at West Point Spurs Inquiry
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
