Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff defends teaching Critical Race Theory at service academies

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before the House Armed Forces Committee that he believes Critical Race Theory should be taught at U.S. service academies. 

Responding to a question from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Milley said, 

”I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, noncomissioned officers of being, quote, ‘woke’ or something else, because we’re studying some theories that are out there.”

The military’s involvement with Critical Race Theory extends beyond the classroom walls.

 In March, Campus Reform reported that the Navy was recommending Ibram X. Kendi’s book as part of its professional reading program. In that book, the leading Critical Race Theory scholar writes that “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

[RELATED: College President: ‘Critical Race Theory is the new Communism’]

Milley continued his response to Gaetz by expressing his support for reading controversial authors whose values run contrary to those of the military. He said,

”I do think it’s important, actually, for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read...I’ve read Mao Tse-tung. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a Communist.”

Critical Race Theory does not mean reading authors with whom one disagrees. Critical Race Theory is a doctrine that holds that all American legal institutions are racist and that every interaction in the present day must be viewed through the lens of race, particularly as it relates to historical oppression. 

[RELATED: SURVEY: Despite push from academia, teaching of CRT in schools is deeply unpopular]

Gaetz was not the only member of Congress concerned about Critical Race Theory in the military. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) took umbrage with Critical Race Theory being included on a syllabus at West Point, an incident he said he learned of from cadets, military members, and their families.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AngelaLMorabito