In Light Of Recent Facebook Post The Citadel Has Work To Do To Build Core Values Of Honor, Duty, And Respect

A Facebook post by three former Citadel students under the title “The Citadel ‘Old Corps’” is a clear example some people still see African Americans in only one way: through a racial lens.

Why would these Citadel students, who were receiving their education at one of the best U.S. higher-education military institutions, continue a Southern tradition that no longer has a place in today’s society? Even worse, why would they embarrass their Alma Mater publicly by spending their time and energy to promote racism? The Citadel responded vigorously to this racially offensive social media post:

“Yesterday [Feb. 3], an alumnus of The Citadel fabricated an abhorrent fake news release appearing to be from The Citadel. The nature of the post was racially offensive. The Citadel will not sit idly by and tolerate comments of this nature. While the post appeared in a private Facebook group and has since been deleted, it is important to publicly condemn these comments in the strongest possible terms, as they are completely opposed to our core values—Honor, Duty, and Respect. Further, every quote included in the fake post was forged. The slanderous statements do not reflect the actual views of The Citadel or its’ leadership.”

While The Citadel’s administration acted quickly to make sure the public learned this racist act wasn’t a message they supported or contributed to in any form or fashion, the link to the history of the college is very clear. One can’t help but question how former students, like these three at The Citadel, who wrote this post to Facebook could ever be accepted at a public college or university anywhere else in the Palmetto state.

That being said, there will always be people around like Blake DeVolld, who allegedly wrote the post and used The Citadel’s logo to create a fake Citadel letterhead to hide his participation in this incident. The posting suggested The Citadel was separating its water fountain system into one for white cadets and another for black cadets. Then there is Dylann Roof, who killed nine black people in a Charleston church in 2015 and is now on death row. These racists have shown how far they will go to spread their hate messages to support their personal brand of racism, even during this time of crisis all states in our nation are facing.

This Facebook post has prompted a public outcry from The Citadel’s alumni all over the state and nation, particularly from the African American graduates, during a time when the school is celebrating the racial progress it has made since it was founded in 1842 in response to anticipated slave uprisings. In fact, in 1861, Citadel cadets allegedly fired the first shots at Fort Sumpter to begin the Civil War.

The Citadel’s history is clear, and it continues to seek programs in an effort to change its more than a century-old culture.
So, the question now should be: What is The Citadel doing to create a culture of inclusiveness? Now it’s time to ask the greater community what they are doing to help racists in both communities to see others through a nonracist lens. Why haven’t local, state, and federal officials spoken out and addressed this issue? Is it because many of them have not recognized the racism in their thinking and actions? Or is it because they don’t want to offend their openly racist friends and supporters?
We in the African American community see racism every day when our white friends say how much they don’t see race or racism. But then they continue to promote stereotypes that they see in the media because 75% of white people have never had direct contact with an African American outside of the workplace.

So maybe a good starting point for The Citadel is to make sure all of their cadets in all fields of study spend a semester interacting with African Americans and Hispanics from all walks of life.

What better way to make sure these students learn to respect different cultures and races?