Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria, superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, addressed cadets on Thursday in a powerful speech about treating one another with “dignity and respect” after racial slurs were written outside five black cadet candidates’ dorm rooms.

One message—which was posted on Facebook by a young cadet candidate’s mom—read, “go home n**ger.”

“There is absolutely no place in our Air Force for racism,” Silveria told the Air Force Times, adding, “I‘ve said it before: the area of dignity and respect is my red line. Let me be clear, it won’t be crossed without significant repercussions.”

And clear he was. In a speech Silveria gave to Air Force cadets Thursday, the general addressed the incident head-on; during the roughly 5-minute lecture, the superintendent resoundingly denounced racism, and demonstrated the kind of moral clarity one would expect from a leader.

“If you’re outraged by those words, then you’re in the right place,” Silveria said of the racist graffiti. ”That kind of behavior has no place at the prep school, it has no place at USAFA and it has no place in the United States Air Force.”

“You should be outraged not only as an airman, but as a human being,” he added.

Silveria noted the incident occurred in the context of fraught racial tensions in the United States as a whole. “We would be naive to think we shouldn’t discuss this topic,” he said. “We’d also be tone deaf not to think about the backdrop of what’s going on in our country. Things like Charlottesville and Ferguson, the protests in the NFL.”

“What we should have is a civil discourse, and talk about these issues,” Silveria suggested. “That’s a better idea.”

“I also have a better idea, and it’s about our diversity,” he continued. “And it’s the power of the diversity … the power of us as a diverse group. The power that we come from all walks of life, that we come from all parts of this county, that we come from all races, all backgrounds, gender, all makeup, all upbringings. The power of that diversity comes together and makes us that much more powerful.”

“We have an opportunity here to think about what we are as an institution,” Silveria said. “This is our institution and no one can take away our values. No one can write on a board and question our values. No one can take that away from us.”

He called upon his cadets to find the “moral courage” to stand up for those values.

“So just in case you’re unclear on where I stand on this topic, I’m going to leave you with my most important thought today,” he said. “If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then you need to get out. If you can’t treat someone from another gender, whether that’s a man or a woman, with dignity and respect, then you need to get out. If you demean someone in any way, then you need to get out. And if you can’t treat someone from another race, or a different color of skin, with dignity and respect, then you need to get out.”

“If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out,” Silveria repeated.

6134589
I want to see Lt. General Silveria, General John Kelly, Admiral William McRaven, and General H.R. McMaster both speak out and denounce racists. Lord knows Trump won't do it.

6134714

Hmm, nice response. I was totally expecting you to scold me and remark that we shouldn't be too impressed by the bourgeoisie American imperialist war machine's handlers playing at not being racist, which would also be true.

I agree entirely with your statement, though. They should have the guts to do it.

6134751
I definitely support the military, but I do not support giving them a $700 billion budget. You can slash that in half plus taxing the rich and you have more than enough for medicare for all and free college tuitions with some money left.

I've lost faith in 90% of the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans except for Senators Sanders, Gillibrand, Leahy, Merkley, and Wyden.

6134589 It seems like we have gone backwards a lot as a country. In the 80s and 90s I never remember there being all of this mass negativity. People were generally nice to one another. Everyone pretty much got along. Things started going downhill in the early 2000s. I wonder what went wrong. That's a question I ask myself a lot.

It's nice to see people finally start to take a stand on this shit. It's just too bad they didn't get around to it in time to keep President Nuclear Orange out of office, because now we're all getting nuked anyway and it's really a bit of a hollow gesture at this point to start cleaning house just before it all burns down anyway.

6134768

I dunno about the 1990s being that peaceful.

During the 1990's the Rodney King incident happened and the L.A. riots occurred, punctuated by Korean shopkeepers shooting black people.

White supremacist Tim McVeigh bombed a building.

The 1990s weren't really that nice and quiet.

6134791 That's true. But those were more like isolated incidents. It just seemed to me like the culture of the 80s and 90s in general was more accepting of all people. For example. when I went to school, everyone was taught to like everyone despite their differences. And no parents questioned that or anything. In my neighborhood, people would watch over all of the kids. Neighbors would visit with one another. The environment as whole was friendly. So what happened? I'm still trying to figure this out.

6134772

I like how we're all making it a forgone conclusion that we are living on borrowed time now.

It's true and you are right to think so, I'm just giggling at the magachuds screaming about how they gonna vote for him again.

It's like, how the fuck are they going to vote for him after the bombs fall? They won't be alive to do it.