I joined the Army in the early eighties and attended many civil rights classes as part of my training (we received classes on everything from hygiene to financial management). During these classes we were told that violating the civil rights of another was a punishable offense and we were given various examples of such violations. Only one time in 23 years of my military career do I remember a white person teaching these classes. What was the message of these classes? What was the unspoken need behind all of us being taught on a regular basis that the violation of a man's civil rights was a punishable offense? During one memorable class, one poor confused individual, without any prompting, without being asked a specific question or being asked to make a statement, suddenly stood up and announced to the black instructor that he "hates the south and southerners". No one in that class, or in any of the civil rights classes I received throughout my military career, ever mentioned that southerners were the cause of the civil rights violations which necessitated our training. Yes, this person misunderstood the message being taught at that particular class. There were many eye rolls and I could not help but openly laugh at this person's stupidity, but was he really that stupid after all? During these same years I was receiving civil rights training in the military I was also taught, via official communications, about various ethnic heritages. There were official communications urging me to celebrate African American, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander heritage, and whichever other various heritages I may have forgotten about. But one specific ethnic heritage was conspicuously absent throughout my entire military career, that of Caucasian Americans. What conclusion am I to draw from the two facts: that 1.) I received regular and scheduled training regarding the violation of another's civil rights and 2.) my specific ethnic heritage was the only one not officially celebrated by the military? After all these years I have come to the conclusion that that confused young individual who I openly laughed at all those years ago during civil rights training for stating that he "hates the south and southerners", was receiving the message that was actually being sent: white people are racists. This narrative is a racist narrative. This narrative is one that I have heard throughout my life, in books and movies, on the news, and in official training given by the U.S. military. Is this narrative openly stated? No. But what else am I to conclude when so many examples of racism are used in civil rights training, in movies, in books, etc. while at the same time all other ethnicities are celebrated as being valuable and noteworthy with one glaring exception, that of my own? What are my children to conclude? I say again, this narrative is racist, I have heard it all my life, and I am speaking out against it.
