[WASHINGTONTIMES] Sen. Tom Cotton revealed several whistleblower complaints from service members who objected to critical-race theory indoctrination in the military, including airmen being divide race into groups for "privilege walks."The service members also spoke out against receiving reading lists of critical race theory books as part of the Pentagon’s new anti-extremism and diversity training within the ranks.
Mr. Cotton, Arkansas Republican, received the complaints after launching a whistleblower site in late May in partnership with Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Texas Republican.
Mr. Cotton, a former Army infantry officer, and Mr. Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL lieutenant commander, created the site to identify "woke" ideology within the military, they said."This is about a very specific kind of anti-American indoctrination that is seeping into some parts of our military," Mr. Cotton said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday.
"One Marine told us a military history training session was replaced with mandatory training on police brutality, white privilege, and systemic racism. He reported that several officers are now leaving his unit citing that training," he said. "Another service member told us that their unit was required to read White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo which claims, ’white people raised in western society are conditioned in a white supremacist world view.’"
He said an airman complained that an exercise called a privilege walk, saying it was a "racist exercise.""Members of the wing were ordered to separate themselves by race and gender in order to stratify people based on their perceived privilege," Mr. Cotton said in describing the airman’s complaint.
The senator detailed several specific complaints on Thursday when questioning Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III during a committee hearing.
"We’re hearing reports of plummeting morale, growing mistrust between the races and sexes where none existed just six months ago, and unexpected retirements and separations based on these trainings alone," he said.
Mr. Cotton asked Mr. Austin whether he believes the military is fundamentally racist and whether service members should be treated differently based on race or sex. Mr. Austin answered no to both questions, and he said he welcomed service members to make complaints through their chain of command or inspector general.