Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals.
Two of the officers targeted by Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, senior military officials said.
Racism and sexism, right? Not so fast.
President Donald Trump, Secretary Hegseth and the entire millions of MAGA insist they are neither racist nor sexist. Nothing infuriates a MAGA adherent like being called a racist.
Their new racism has four strategies: Denial, meritocracy, “race neutrality” and colorblindness.
Denial
Rodney Kennedy
Rooted in South Carolina’s John Calhoun’s claims of slavery as a “positive good,” American politicians are now claiming slavery was good for African Americans. Nikki Haley argues, “We’re not a racist country. We’ve never been a racist country.” Candace Ownes insists, “We are not a racist country.” Sen. Tim Scott says, “I know this is going to offend the liberal elites. America is not a racist country.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asserts, “America is not a racist country.” DeSantis previously defended Florida school curriculum teaching that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
At least half the nation seems convinced racism is part of a long departed past. If you repeat the denial enough times, you can convince others racism doesn’t exist.
Meritocracy
Suddenly, “meritocracy” has become the “it” word for the Trump administration. The word has risen to prominence out of the anti-DEI and “wokeness” movements — both terms lacking substantive meaning but having the emotional power to produce outrage among conservatives.
“The idea of deserving wealth or power is everywhere in conservative thought.”
The new code word for racism is “meritocracy.” The word belongs to a cluster including “supremacy,” “deserving,” and “privilege.” The idea of deserving wealth or power is everywhere in conservative thought.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised Hegseth for “restoring meritocracy throughout the ranks.”
Instead of white robes, pointy hoods and burning crosses, today’s conservatives are using words to frighten people into submission.
“Meritocracy” has a nice ring to it. Conservatives are obsessed with merit as the best way to determine who deserves promotions, jobs, and privilege. And of course, other white people always are the most deserving.
Legal scholar Richard Delgado says, “Merit sounds like white people’s affirmative action … a way of keeping their own deficiencies neatly hidden while assuring that only people like them get in.”
The family of Chaplain (Major General) Bill Green Jr., U.S. Army chief of chaplains, pins on his new rank during a promotion ceremony on March 15, 2024, at the U.S. Army Institute for Religious Leadership at Fort Jackson, S.C. (Photo: Mel Slater, U.S. Army Institute for Religious Leadership)
Hegseth’s alleged meritocracy has one job: to funnel white men into leadership positions in the U.S. military. He has demonstrated his determination to accomplish his move with alacrity. Hegseth wrote, “The Left captured the military quickly, and we must reclaim it at a faster pace.”
He already has a string of potential racist and sexist actions on his record. He has removed:
- Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is Black
- Gen. William Green, Army chief of chaplains, who is Black
- Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations, a woman
- Linda Fagan, Coast Guard Commandant, a woman
“Hegseth’s alleged meritocracy has one job: to funnel white men into leadership positions in the U.S. military.”
Unchecked and unaccountable, Hegseth seems prepared to turn Martin Luther King Jr.’s “dream” into a “nightmare” for women and people of color.
Race neutrality
The Pentagon has defended Hegseth. Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, “Military promotions are given to those who have earned them” and the process is “apolitical and unbiased.”
Swearing to be neutral on race allows whites to claim they are not racists. In other words, they are not prejudiced or biased against individual Black people but are participants in systemic racism.
MAGA adherents can claim not to be racist as individuals while endorsing Hegseth’s racist action of denying promotion to African American officers. Not only does this hide the structural nature of racism, it also enables self-delusion. This is close as anyone gets to meeting the warning given by Jesus in Matthew 13:15 — “They have shut their eyes, so that they might not look with their eyes.”
Colorblindness
The trick is for a white person to claim, “I don’t see color.” The language of colorblindness is a mask to hide racism. This is the cousin of “I’m not racist” or “That’s not racist.” The race neutral and colorblind individual, by the nature of his claim, means he fails to see racism or admit its existence. This attitude has kept racism as America’s primary race issue for our nation’s entire existence.
For example, the notion of colorblindness was carved into our law in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, when Supreme Court Justice John Harlan wrote, “Our Constitution is color-blind. The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. I doubt not, it will continue to be for all time, if it remains true to its great heritage.”
A colorblind Constitution for a white-supremacist America was gift-wrapped in legal language.
A colorblind Constitution for a white-supremacist America was gift-wrapped in legal language.
Since the structures of systemic racism are always hidden like the steel beams of a high-rise office building, nothing changes by claiming not to see racism.
The very notions of meritocracy, race neutrality and color blindness sustain racism. Instead of being wrapped in white hoods, it is cocooned in fierce denial. It feeds white nationalist victimhood by insisting any policy protecting, promoting or advancing nonwhite Americans is reverse discrimination.
Such is the perverse dance playing out in the military under Hegseth’s direction.
Hegseth and his legions can swear on a stack of King James Bibles they are not racist, but that doesn’t mean they’re right.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer. He is the author of 11 books, including his latest, Dancing with Metaphors in the Pulpit.
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