US Army Platoon Allows Racism For One Day Every Week.

Ah, Racial Thursdays. The long-lost Hill-Billy cousin of Casual Fridays; both allow you to let your true personality shine, though where the latter stops at the exterior, the former allows people to get more than… skin-deep. All good fun, as long as that true personality you’ve always wanted to show the world was a closeted bigot that just wanted to run free, hair blowing in the wind…. minorities trampled in your path….

According to an Army Times report, a platoon in the US Army has allowed soldiers to lob racial slurs at each other for one day of every week. Racial Thursdays, as the free-hate day is known, was revealed by a Fort Wainwright Staff Sergeant. The platoon has since been placed under investigation.

“When I first got to my unit, someone said we should do ‘Racial Thursdays’ because it’s been a tradition,” the soldier, who requested anonymity, told the Army Times. “It’s something they made up where you can say any racist remark you want without any consequences.”

Majority-white unit gets free-reign to insult any and every colored individual, all justified because this would boost “morale” somehow….. Sounds like an incident report waiting to happen. Wonder how they define morale, does being assaulted with racial slurs for 24/7 for one day of every week really improve the morale of colored soldiers though? Unless minorities got to use baseball bats to knock out their one-liners, I doubt it was an even playing field.

The platoon sergeant had tried to prevent it from going on, but to no avail. “It’s degrading,” the anonymous soldier continued. “We’ve had soldiers almost fight over the crap that’s going on here.”

In one awesome morale-boosting incident, a Latino soldier had been so badly bullied that Racial Thursdays almost became Free-For-All Thursday.

Let’s be honest, nobody needs a day of the week to beat on minorities, particularly when racial tensions are at an all-time high. The military seems to disagree with that sentiment however, because they have also targeted Black Women for a specific set of hairstyle restrictions (the rules were withdrawn following swift and heated backlash), allowed “white supremacists, neo-Nazis and skinhead groups” into the Army’s ranks( which Reuters has linked to the murderous rampage of Wade Page, former army soldier who murdered six Sikhs at a temple in 2012).

And what about the case of Danny Chen, a Chinese American who had committed suicide because he was persistently taunted by men who were supposed to have his back during the deadly conflict. According to New York Magazine, he was stationed at Fort Wainwright right before his deployment…. Now we have a death because of Racial Thursday. I’m sure platoon morale is through the roof.

“Treating all soldiers with dignity and respect is something this command takes extremely seriously, and when there are any indications that those values are not being followed, the command will absolutely make inquiries, conduct appropriate investigations and take action as necessary,” U.S. Army Alaska spokesperson Lt. Col. Alan Brown told the Army Times. Yeah, good luck with that. Pardon me if I’m just a tad skeptical, what with the Army’s amazing track-record so far and all.

Source: mic.com... aign=social

sounds insane , and extremely racist, to think this was even allowed to happen by senior officers is disgusting. Just goes to show that the military is still and very much is a white mans good old boys club and the "coloured soliders" as you put it are nothing more than bullet catchers because too many white kids were dying out there for uncle sam.

So you're saying only white people can be racist? That sounds kind of racist to me.

If it's Thursday it's got to be N-word (I wish people could say whatever they felt like saying all the time, freedom of speech and all that, but racists of all colours and shades should also talk to, befriend, and hang out with the culture of the people they think are beneath them, they'll be in for a surprise).

a reply to: lucifuge

Ah, Racial Thursdays. The long-lost Hill-Billy cousin of Casual Fridays;

So you start your thread with the typical white southerner KKK stereotype. Yawn.

Majority-white unit gets free-reign to insult any and every colored individual, all justified because this would boost “morale” somehow….. Sounds like an incident report waiting to happen.

And the colored soldiers get to bash on whites also....oh wait I forgot black people can't be racist.

allowed “white supremacists, neo-Nazis and skinhead groups” into the Army’s ranks( which Reuters has linked to the murderous rampage of Wade Page, former army soldier who murdered six Sikhs at a temple in 2012).

You don't have to even be an American to join the US Army.....wonder how many black panthers have been recruited as well?

And what about the case of Danny Chen, a Chinese American who had committed suicide because he was persistently taunted by men who were supposed to have his back during the deadly conflict. According to New York Magazine, he was stationed at Fort Wainwright right before his deployment…. Now we have a death because of Racial Thursday. I’m sure platoon morale is through the roof.

That's how you get the guys that don't have their ship together to get their ship together. I'm sure its an antiquated notion to our modern politically correct society but it is effective if you have a shipbag soldier which it sounds like he was.

I'm not condoning this kind of behavior, but I can at least understand it. But of course, the self righteous will flame away at me as an evil racist. Flame away and hope that you're never in the position those guys are.

My attitude to this and trolling etc should be (and this is not a definitive approach, more of a rule of thumb)

Strike 1. Your comment should be classed as freedom of speech

Strike 2. A second comment. Depending on the scale and seriousness of what you have said for a second time. You should be warned verbally or written.

Strike 3. A third comment. Repeated offense is punishable in whatever way is deemed fair and just.

a reply to: lucifuge

Strike 1. Your comment should be classed as freedom of speech

Strike 2. A second comment. Depending on the scale and seriousness of what you have said for a second time. You should be warned verbally or written.

So freedom of speech is all well and good one time for you but a second time merits punishment? LOL That does'nt sound like freedom of speech to me, it sounds like freedom to say what you want as long as I like it.

Strike 3. A third comment. Repeated offense is punishable in whatever way is deemed fair and just.

And who deems that? Who decides whats racist and what isn't? I bet I see where this is going......

I spent 20 years in the Army, but I never served anywhere that had a "racial Thursday".

I've been called "white boy" more times than I can count, cracker a few dozen times, "white bread" and "wonder" were popular when I first joined but they seemed to go out of style.

The Black Panthers and Nation of Islam were removed from the list of recognized hate groups more than ten years ago. Their rhetoric and beliefs never changed, just their designation.

I love how people that have never been somewhere, never done a thing, can know so very much about what it entails.

Keep fanning those embers, just be prepared for the flames that follow.

Don't look back and say "we didn't know".

a reply to: Cancerwarrior

I like how can call the victim a "shipbag" without, you know, actually having all the facts? So, I guess you think casual racism is A-Ok then? It is never, I repeat, never, acceptable. Less so in an organization where the guys taunting you are the same guys who are supposed to have your back.

a reply to: lucifuge

Racial Thursday is a bad idea IMO, but here is some reality. My first unit back in the beginning of the 90s slurs would be thrown about freely and my unit was mostly made up of minorities only 5 of us were white. You seem to be under a faulty impression that being white makes one less of a target or gives them some sort of advantage and you are wrong.

That was before everything became so PC you were expected suck it up or give it back as good as you got it. I have a feeling this story is written with a huge slant with some obscured details. I doubt it is anywhere near as bad as the article makes it out to be, but that is the media today for you.

Now I have to ask you about

Now we have a death because of Racial Thursday.

I read the article a few times over and must have missed it. Who died because of Racial Thursday?

Edit to add


It would be great if you quoted what you copy and pasted so it would be easier to distinguish what is your opinion and what is from the article. I believe that is required in OPs.

Whoops!
You said colored and I have been told that is an insult.
Why it's insulting I have no clue, I'd rather be colored than shades of gray.
We really need to get beyond words and this whole victim mentality that enables every group under the sun to claim racism.

a reply to: lucifuge

Racial Thursdays? Really?

How about "Shoot The Bigot Fridays?" That sounds like a MUCH better plan.

ETA:

If you follow Racial Thursdays with the day I mentioned, you only have to have ONE Racial Thursday, EVER!

a reply to: lucifuge

Wonder how they define morale…

The same as morals. Its a pressure relief vale. Military needs lots of those. What other organization trains to annihilate enemies?

IMHO, when it comes to racial integration the military is leaps and bounds ahead of the general public. When I was in we joked about race and made fun of each other and ourselves. We also stood up for each other and became lifelong friends.

If you think the military has a race problem, go hang out around a base and see all of the interracial couples. Interracial marriages are much more common in the military than the general public.

a reply to: Ironhawke

I like how can call the victim a "shipbag" without, you know, actually having all the facts? So, I guess you think casual racism is A-Ok then? It is never, I repeat, never, acceptable. Less so in an organization where the guys taunting you are the same guys who are supposed to have your back.

I just said in my previous post that I don't condone this kind of behavior. If I was platoon Seargeant I would have nipped it in the bud as soon as it started because every army unit from Seal team Six to a squad of cooks needs unit cohesion not devisiveness. I do however understand the mindset from serving 8 years in the Army.

And if private Chen was being harrassed to the point of suicide, I would say with 99 percent certainty that the cause was his comrades trying get his ass in gear and not do stupid ship so when they have to go to combat with his stupidness, hopefully he won't get them killed. Not because of a "racial thursday."

I have seen hazing used countless times in the Army and it can be very effective. (If also perceived as cruel to civilians).

When I was stationed overseas, if a soldier got arrested for being drunk and fighting with people, SOP of the day was for the MP's to call whoever the soldiers senior NCO was (usually a first seargeant), and he came and picked him up from the MP station.

One day the company got a new First Seargeant after the old one retired. The new first Seargeant had a totally different policy. Instead of just picking up the soldier and taking him home and giving him extra duty the next week, this guy called everyone in the company and had a mass formation. Soldiers drunk and fighting is something that always happens at 0200 in the morning on a weekend, so you can imagine everyone being upset at him. Then he would march the entire company down to the MP station to pick up drunk private snuffy and have him march back in the middle of the formation to the company barracks. That guy caught absolute hell from the whole company for at least a week. Needless to say it was the first and last time that ever happened in my three years there.

originally posted by: anton74
IMHO, when it comes to racial integration the military is leaps and bounds ahead of the general public. When I was in we joked about race and made fun of each other and ourselves. We also stood up for each other and became lifelong friends.

If you think the military has a race problem, go hang out around a base and see all of the interracial couples. Interracial marriages are much more common in the military than the general public.

We used to say, does'nt matter what color you are, we're all green around here.

Why not sexist monday, and fat bullying wednesday and handicapped bullying friday and... why not the purge ?

a reply to: Cancerwarrior

The article says Danny Chen had been stationed at the same base before but it makes no mention of him being in the platoon that had a racial Thursday.

Also, the OP has said it was a majority white unit yet there is no mention of that in the article either.


I am hoping the OP will come back to explain or at least source where he got this information he put in his OP.

a reply to: lucifuge

It should have been called "Racial Slursday."

That is all.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Being a racist and being a bigot are two different things altogether.

Really...like completely different.