The Army has officially said that it is unclear who is distributing handouts and sending emails which are labeling certain behaviors & terms, such as Make America Great Again, as white supremacy.
The question is why are politically motivated materials even being distributed by the military?
Why is there an "Operation Inclusion?"
Our friends at Fox News covered the controversial story:
The U.S. Army is investigating after a handout was distributed to personnel on an Army base in Alabama that included an image describing President Trump's 2016 “Make America Great Again” slogan as a form of covert White supremacy.
The handout, sent to personnel at Redstone Arsenal, invited all soldiers and personnel to attend an “Operation Inclusion” listening seminar. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., who first brought attention to the handout, said it was sent to personnel at the base from an official government email address and created by the U.S. Army Equality and Inclusion Agency. He believes it could have been sent to thousands of personnel.
Included in the handout was a pyramid graphic with behaviors identified as “overt white supremacy (socially unacceptable)” such as racial slurs and hate crimes. Beneath that are listed things classed as “covert" or socially acceptable forms of “white supremacy.”
The long list of items include “calling the police on black people,” “respectability politics,” celebrating Columbus Day, as well as saying “all lives matter” and “Make America Great Again” — President Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan.
The Army website describes Project Inclusion as an Army initiative, directed by the Secretary and the Chief of Staff to "improve diversity, equity, and inclusion across the force and build cohesive teams.”
Breitbart News reports that the same material was distributed in email format, inviting personell to attend the inclusion seminars:
A U.S. Army email, sent after the Fourth of July to its military and civilian members, included a graphic which claimed saying the phrase “Make America Great Again” is evidence of “white supremacy.”
The graphic listed other behaviors it deemed evidence of white supremacy, including, “Celebration of Columbus Day,” the “Denial of White Privilege,” “Talking about ‘American Exceptionalism,'” and saying “There’s Only One Human Race.”
The email invited “all soldiers and (Department of the Army) Civilian Personnel” to attend the U.S. Army’s “Operation Inclusion” seminars on July 8 and 9 at the Redstone Arsenal Army Base in Alabama. The email was sent by Chaney P. Pickard from the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Center using an official government email.
The message named the “U.S. Army Equity & Inclusion Agency” and “Assistant Secretary of the Army — Manpower and Reserve Affairs” as authors."
An investigation by the Army has been spurred by Representative Mo Brooks (R, Al) who believes the distribution of such political propaganda is in direct violation of The Hatch Act.
His position on the subject can be found on his government page:
Congressman Brooks said, “U.S. Army personnel have violated the Hatch Act and any number of military regulations by distributing materials that, among other offensive things, labels president Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan or 'Celebration of Columbus Day' as white supremacist. The Hatch Act prohibits federal government executive branch employees from engaging in defined, banned political activity. ALL U.S. Army civilian and uniformed personnel who drafted, approved or sent this racist and politically partisan email, using government resources, should be prosecuted for their Hatch Act violations and summarily fired for blatantly and illegally injecting themselves into partisan political activities on government time using federal taxpayer money.”
Brooks added, “Heads should roll. I ask the U.S. Army to investigate this matter and send me a report of (a) who was involved in these Hatch Act violations, (b) whether they will be prosecuted pursuant to the Hatch Act, and (c) whether they will be terminated for their illegal conduct (as I would expect of any federal government employee who blatantly disregards and violates the Hatch Act). The U.S. Army is not the place for political indoctrination or reeducation experimentation. These vile violators of the Hatch Act should be made an example as a stern warning to other federal employees that no one is above the law when it comes to illegally using federal government resources to promote racial division and advance a partisan political agenda.”
Brooks continued, “In March 2018, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel advised executive branch employees that, while on duty or in the federal workplace, they may not engage in activity directed toward the success or failure of President Trump’s reelection campaign. More specifically, while on duty or in a federal workplace, federal employees are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or distributing items from President Trump’s 2016 or 2020 campaigns, like ‘Make America Great Again,’ ‘#MAGA,’ or, in the alternative, items directed at the failure of President Trump’s reelection campaign.[1] Just as federal employees may not use federal time and resources to promote 'Make America Great Again', neither may employees use federal time and resources to denigrate 'Make America Great Again'."
Brooks concluded, "Numerous Redstone Arsenal employees have expressed outrage to me about the U.S. Army blatantly violating the Hatch Act and, in effect, labeling patriotic Americans 'White Supremacists' and racists if they say or do dozens of things outlined in the U.S. Army email. I have written to U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy requesting the following information:"
Every facet of society is now being innundated with leftwing propoganda and social engineering.
In the military, soldiers are supposed to be the unbiased protectors of our society and core rights as Americans.
What these initiatives and social experiments are going to achieve is the exact opposite of what they claim to do.
By bringing subjective beliefs in what should be an agnostic military will only serve to divide its, members, reduce moral, destroy cohesion, and result in American vulnerability.
Maybe that's the plan.
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