Navy's highest-ranking officer confronts Republican critics and stresses importance of combating rac

[riversedge]

6. Sens. Cruz and Cotton are some of your vocal critics.............

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/navys-highest-ranking-officer-confronts-republican-critics-and-stresses-importance-of-combating-racism-and-misinformation/ar-AAL5gfZ?li=BBnb7Kz
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.............................Cotton, criticizing military training on systemic racism, had asked Austin to respond to a series of yes or no questions about whether the US military is racist, after each of which Austin said that the answers required more context before Cotton cut him off.

"I think we need to do a bit better in terms of making sure that we're absolutely inclusive, and making sure that we create pathways, or pathways are available, for everybody that's in the ranks to achieve, to realize their full potential," said Austin when allowed to add more context to his answers by Sen. Tim Kaine.

While the military has become more diverse since World War II, minorities in the armed forces still face issues of inequality. For instance, black service members are less likely to become officers and, as a result, are more likely to be seriously injured serving their country than their white colleagues.

Republican members of Congress such as Sen. Ted Cruz have gone as far as unfavorably comparing the US military to Russia's to disparage diversity efforts by the Defense Department.

"We're seeing Democratic politicians and these woke lefty bureaucrats and lefty media reporters trying to destroy the American military, trying to turn it in, into frankly a bunch of pansies," Cruz told Fox News...................................................................................