Did a woke West Point professor mock then Rep. Michael Waltz?

Did a woke West Point professor mock then Rep. Michael Waltz over his concern of racial indoctrination of cadets at the Military Academy? Was Waltz’s concern justified? You be the judge.

By Col. Bill Prince, US Army ret, USMA ’70

Back in the fall of 2021, I was doing research into the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) at the United States Military Academy (USMA).

Of interest to me, during my research, was a presentation given to staff, faculty and cadets on 11 Feb. 2021 by Dr. Carol Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University.

I learned that Dr. Anderson was the author of the New York Times bestseller, White Rage: the Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. I further knew that Dr. Anderson had made very disparaging comments about then President Donald Trump.

In a 25 Aug. 2020 tweet, Dr. Anderson described President Trump as a “white nationalist” and the Republican Party platform as a platform of “white supremacy.”

Further, she claimed that the motivation behind the 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution was the insistence by Southern whites on having access to the weapons they might need to quell slave revolts; a claim not supported by historical records.

Of note to military personnel, Dr. Anderson made these statements when Trump was their Commander-in-Chief.

In retrospect, naively, I thought it would be a simple matter to find out who at West Point had invited Dr. Anderson to speak.

A straight-forward question, – ah, not so fast.

Getting no help from West Point, on 11 May 2022, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Now, by Federal law, a U.S. Government entity must respond within 20 business days.

On 16 June, 2022, I received from the West Point Freedom of Information/Privacy Act Officer an acknowledgment of my request and the assignment of FOIA Control Number FP-22-021294.

Patience, patience, patience!!

After 31 months, yes, 31 months of waiting (and repeated email queries re the status of the request), I finally received 332 pages of documents.

Each of the 332 pages of documents had all the names redacted.

Amusingly, even the publicity poster advertising the event had Dr. Anderson’s name redacted although the poster carried the title, “Understanding Whiteness and White Rage,” along with the date, time and location, Eisenhower Hall. It was presented by the Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies and the Diversity & Inclusion Studies Minor.

As noted above, my primary interest was in who invited Dr. Anderson to speak. I already had the other details. Hmmm!

While the extensive redactions were a disappointment, there was much remaining that proved to be of great interest.

In an email dated 22 Jan. 2021, a West Point professor (name redacted) wrote Dr. Anderson:

“…on behalf of my students, my colleagues in the Diversity and Inclusion Studies Minor and my colleagues in several departments.”

In that same email, the professor further advised,

“We are at an inflection point bordering on crisis. I am presently working on a project that looks at white nationalism and its relationship to the military as part of a larger research project on malign influence operations.”

The professor asks Dr. Anderson to consider addressing staff, faculty and cadets on “…the basic history of whiteness as race and white rage…”

In a separate email, dated the day before, apparently to a colleague (name redacted), the professor wrote,

“I am thrilled at the possibility of having her (Dr. Anderson) speak, particularly after the shocking rebellion at the Capitol last week. Since I have a large variety of classes from multiple different disciplines lined up (History, Sociology, Law, Geography, etc.) and students from many of our diversity and affinity clubs, consolidating concepts has been a bit difficult.”

The professor reiterated the hope that Dr. Anderson

“…would be willing to discuss the basic history of whiteness as race and white rage, culminating in last week’s insurrection…” And, “If along the way, she could talk about how whiteness constructs institutional inequalities that underlie everything from economic to legal to social to environmental inequalities, that would be wonderful!”

As noted above, in all 332 pages, the professor’s identity was redacted. However, the documents provided some clues. In a 29 Dec. 2020 email, the professor had written to Dr. Anderson :

“…I am a Professor of History at the US Military Academy at West Point. At the Academy, I founded the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Diversity and Inclusion Studies Minor…” “

This spring, I teach a course on identity/identification, HI 463, ‘Race, Ethnicity, Nation & Gender” in which students (cadets) read a portion of White Rage…”

Doing an internet search, I found the “Schedule of Lessons for HI 463, for AY 2017-2.” The lesson for 26 Jan. was titled “Not a Control Group: Whiteness as Race.”

Lo and behold, Dr. Anderson’s book, White Rage, p.1-38, were required reading for the class. Instructors are listed as Dr. David Frey (PhD. Columbia) and Dr. Peggy O’Donnell (PhD. UC Berkley).

Dr. Frey’s bio on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum site states;

“David Frey is Professor of History and the founding Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) at the United States Military Academy at West Point. At West Point, Dr. Frey co-created and co-chairs the Academy’s Diversity and Inclusion Minor, the first minor of its type at any service academy.”