Black Air Force Cadet Who Had Racist Hate Speech Written All Over His Dorm Room Admits He Wrote It Himself To Get Out Of Trouble For Misconduct
NY POST – One of the black Air Force Academy cadets who claimed he was targeted by racial slurs scrawled outside his dorm room actually wrote the hateful messages himself, school officials said this week.
Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria — whose passionate message to cadets at the Air Force Academy’s Preparatory School in Colorado went viral after five black cadets found the words “go home” and an accompanying racial slur outside their dorm in September — confirmed the finding and reiterated the need for inclusiveness at the academy outside Colorado Springs.
“We can confirm that one of the cadet candidates who was allegedly targeted by racist remarks written outside of their dorm room was actually responsible for the act,” academy spokesman Lt. Col. Allen Herritage told the newspaper in an email. “The individual admitted responsibility and this was validated by the investigation.”
As the biggest optimist you know, I guess we can look at the bright side first: this speech came out of it at least.
It went super viral at the time, for good reason. Lt. General Jay Silveria passionately speaking out against racism and how it’s never welcome on campus, or anywhere.
NY POST – The superintendent of the Air Force Academy called all cadets to attention on Thursday to address a racist message left on a dormitory message board — and even encouraged them to record his speech so there was no confusion.
Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria issued a frank directive to the 4,000 cadets at the Air Force Academy’s Preparatory School in Colorado after five black cadets found the words “go home” and an accompanying racial epithet scrawled in their dorm.
“If you’re outraged by those words, then you’re in the right place,” Silveria told the group. “That kind of behavior has no place in the prep school, it has no place at USAFA and it has no place in the United States Air Force. You should be outraged not only as an airman, but as a human being. And I’ll tell you that the appropriate response for horrible language and horrible ideas, the appropriate response is a better idea. So that’s why I’m here.”
I mean that’s a great speech with a great message that unfortunately people still need to hear, no matter what the circumstances were leading up to it or what prompted it.
But those circumstances…
Suchhhhhh bullshit. Nothing makes my blood boil like a fucking false allegation. People purposely ruining the lives of others around them for the most selfish reasons – wanting attention, wanting to be a victim, needing a distraction for something petty. Like this cadet who had a case of misconduct and ran a misdirection by writing racial slurs all over his own dorm.
It’s the most explosive climate we’ve seen in a long, long time, and just the whisper of an allegation about anything is going to get massive, massive attention and coverage. And when it gets exposed as a hoax, it will get maybe 1, 2% of that same coverage. Why is that a problem? Well for one, you’ve got a ton of people who now have it drilled into their head that they have concrete proof that Air Force students are racist. And on a bigger scale, you make it so much harder for REAL victims of hate crimes to be brave enough to come out with it.
Hate-crime hoaxes seem to be on the rise.
The FBI said 5,850 hate crimes were reported to law enforcement in 2015, an average of 16 a day. Levin estimated that no more than three hoaxes a month occur nationwide.
He worries that hoaxes will discourage real victims from coming forward for fear of being attacked or doubted.
“Most hate crimes are not reported to begin with, so that’s why this is a worrisome development,” Levin said.
The Air Force Academy announcement was the second time this week that a hate crime was exposed as a hoax. Police in Manhattan, Kansas, said Monday that a black man acknowledged putting racist graffiti on his own car as a Halloween prank. [NBC]
The few hoaxes that come out basically radicalize all the people who want to believe there’s no racism at all and makes them dig deeper instantly disbelieving any future stories. Just more division and fighting.
Such a shitty story all around. No good outcome from this.