U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Maria Ronquillo patrols the perimeter of the 22nd Space Operations Squadron, Detachment 5, at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam (USA), on 20 January 2006
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Guest post by Charity Bellahirich
One thing 9/11 era veterans know is that it is very difficult to fight a dangerous mindset. When I joined, radical Islam was the boogeyman used to fuel our desire to train harder, fight better and be stronger. I smile when I see these veterans at the local gym, at the beach with their families and on the bus. We shared a goal of defending America when we realized that there existed a legitimate threat — people who want the ultimate destruction of the West. This was a horrifying thought when I joined the military as a young 19 year old. I was all full of pride to be American. I didn’t see myself different than any 19 year old at that point in time.
Basic Training was not fun, but in retrospect, I’d do it again. I was with a unit of young ladies that were predominantly Reserve or Guard from the Carolinas, Alabama and Georgia. I knew there were going to be cliques as most of us had recently graduated high school. One of our section leaders appointed from this flight happened to be African-American. She and I shared a rack. She seemed cool and she even was willing to share extra clothing while we waited almost a week for our initial clothing issue. But something strange happened when she became friends with the African-American girls in the next bay over. She wanted nothing to do with me. We shared a rack and she didn’t even speak with me. She wanted nothing to do with me. The last thing I needed was beef with anyone while trying to get through basic training. She then was assigned to be a section leader and from my perspective, it seemed like open season on white girls. She would harass them like a drill sergeant after the instructors left for the day. Some of the other African-American girls laughed or chimed in even if they didn’t know each other. Through my eyes, I saw quiet girls with blonde hair routinely being treated badly by my rackmate and other girls of similar skin color. These girls formed their own bully clique and when given opportunity, they would never associate or even sit near anyone who was white. I was really shocked that people still were like this. Almost every day, a new white girl got harassment in identical fashion-even if she wasn’t assigned to our section. I am a light skinned Latina and could easily pass for white. I guess back then I didn’t see myself this way. I really assumed that everyone was mixed and it didn’t matter-in fact, I didn’t speak English until first grade. So during field week when this former rackmate-turned-tyrant began to form her girl mob to harass me, I got in her face. I basically told her I’d punch her if she thinks she’s going to treat me how she’s been with every white girl in our unit. I remember reporting her behavior to our instructor, but nothing was done and she moved onto harass other meek blonde girls up to graduation week. It was so blatant and an utter outrageous. For this reason, I feel basic training was a tarnished memory.
Fast forward to my first base in the Deep South. Coming from a big city, I felt like I was transported to a different planet. I will admit it was nice to learn a slower pace of life and have church ladies insist on stuffing me with Sunday Dinner, however there was something far sinister occurring in my workplace. Being a junior enlisted is tough enough, but I did not help that I was automatically singled out for the worst jobs and overheard myself referred to as “that white girl” by my all black admin team. My supervisor was white and he and I were never invited to lunch when the African-American sergeant and Airmen went. They wouldn’t sit with us and their interactions with us were curt. A new Airman from New York came in and he happened to be black. His treatment was a huge contrast to mine. He admittedly had nothing in common with these Airmen from the south, but he was ushered into the club with laughing and joking. I always assumed that it was because I was the lowest ranking Airman on the totem pole that it was supposed to be like this. I spoke with other Airmen in my dorm and would often cry when I spoke of work. “That’s not normal” “you gotta tell someone” is what they told me. Off duty, some of my harassers would make fun of me walking to the laundry room on Sundays. I couldn’t tell what was said, but I could tell it was rude and disparaging. I was truly torn between reporting this or staying loyal to a team that hated me. Things came to a head when a man I was dating was helping me with my laundry at the dorm. He saw that same group of African Americans poking fun of me. Since it was by then routine, I guess it was easier for me to ignore that for him. He became very defensive and an argument ensued. The following evening we went out to a restaurant where this specific group of black Airmen pulled up in a black spider convertible and began taking turns punching my date until he was unconscious. When the police came, I broke down and explained everything that had been going on in my unit. I spent many hours trying to figure out what I had done wrong.
Cue the invisible boogeyman…
When on active duty, the basics of your annual training consisted of, anti-sexual Harrassment, and general standards of conduct. The point of all of the training is to make sure a unit is “mission ready” for anything that may require military action on our nation’s behalf.
It came approximately 90 days after Joe Biden was installed into office. Almost immediately word came from the unit CO that a mandatory training was to be completed throughout the units…the timing is just a little too perfect. The new training for the military and civilians alike that has recently popped up is called “Anti-Extremism Awareness”. While I thought ,”ok, this is new…” I was horrified to notice subtleties unlike any anti-terrorism or extremist training I had ever been through.
I couldn’t help notice that the only type extremism that was discussed was specifically Nazism and white supremacy. It completely ignores that extremists exist in every major racial or cultural group. Supremacist ideology exists in every group of homogenous people. This feeling can be stronger or weaker depending on the individual. In fact, the conclusion of the “Anti-extremism” training addresses frequently asked questions they have received from service members. One of those is if a military member is affiliated with Black Lives Matter, that it is perfectly ok to speak about it. Uh, Portland is burning.
While there is truth in that service members with extremist ideals do still exist in the US military, the prevalence of these type of people on active duty are highly exaggerated. People from all over the world join the US military. My experience is a military might so diverse that it’s very difficult for a person with supremacist ideology to retain this type of thinking. There is diversity in every rank and that is a good thing but the colors and ethnicities of the service members should never be a focus.
And while I applaud the DoD’s emphasis on their attempts to remain neutral, by default they have been duped into ushering Critical Race theory within the military. Critical Race Theory explains that white people are oppressors and any other minority group is considered oppressed. A person is to consider their skin colors history and those they interact with before speaking with them. This teaches a young person to make divisions of “me versus them” before even uttering a word to someone. In my case, I would be confused if someone thanked me for the efforts of Pancho Villa’s vigilantism before starting a conversation.
This dangerous theory also holds that America is systematically racist and designed so that only white people are eligible for promotions or basically anything good coming their way. Therefore implying that the people who keep others down are white and they should be remorseful in every situation. This also tells Americans with more melanin that they will never compare to the achievements of white people. It creates an invisible boogeyman and instant enemy. To make yourself apologetic for oppression for something that may or may not have occurred based on skin color is preposterous. In a recent interview, North Korean Rights Activist and defector, Yoenmi Park stated that this theory has identical parallels to North Koreas collective guilt policy. This policy states that if a person commits a political crime, their heirs will be sentenced to prison camp for two full generations along with the offender.
Americans come in from so many different backgrounds. Young minds should beware that this thinking causes a deep wedge of divisiveness in our personal relationships and will weaken our military. When I was overseas in combat zones, the locals didn’t know what a Latina was. To them you’re American and that’s all they needed to know to make assumptions about you. Enemies of the US abroad won’t care what identity group or our preferred pronouns are. If we can’t come together as Americans then we cannot defend ourselves when bigger bullies come to our backyard. We are part of the human race and the race hustlers of Critical Race Theory refuse to accept that. Pray for us logical thinkers, regardless of melanin content because this is only the beginning.