Critical Race Theory (CRT) ideologues and their Diversity-Inclusion-Equity (DIE)-minded cousins peddle various fantasies. One reprehensible narrative concerns racial disparities among US military deaths during wartime. Not content with claims that teachers who require correct answers from students on their math problems are guilty of “white supremacy culture” (see A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction); or that 1619 rather than 1776 marks the true founding of the country; that disparity of results among those of differing pigmentation manifests race prejudice; or that good “antiracism” requires racism of a different sort (against whites and Asians); CRT-based assertions that US combat losses from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq prove institutional racism are particularly contemptible. They paint those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in a negative light, as if pawns in a racist conspiracy.
As a Virginia Military Institute (VMI) graduate and retired Air Force member with several kinfolk currently in-service, I want to make clear that it makes no difference to me what color someone was who died in the service. Each military fatality, of which I’ve known my share among unit buddies and friends – during peacetime or hostilities – deserves the honor of a grateful nation. The member’s melanin is a zero to me.
This commentary addresses losses in three conflicts: Southeast Asia (often referred to as “Vietnam”), Afghanistan, and Iraq.
