Air Force Academy leader on racial slurs: ‘You should be outraged’

An Air Force three-star general in charge of the Air Force Academy delivered a forceful message to cadets Thursday after someone wrote a racist slur at the academy's preparatory school, according to media reports.

Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, academy superintendent, told the 4,000 cadets gathered to record his statement on their mobile phones so they could discuss it.

“If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out,” he told cadets forcefully.

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Someone wrote “Go home” and the n-word at the prep school, media outlets reported. Air Force Times reported the messages were discovered on the message boards of five black cadet candidates inside a dormitory.

“If you’re outraged by those words, then you are in the right place,” Silveria said. “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.

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"You should be outraged not only as an airman, but as a human being," he added. "…. We would be naive to think that we shouldn't discuss this topic. We would 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. That's why we have a better idea because what we should have is a civil discourse and talk about those issues."

Silveria emphasized to the cadets and staff and faculty listening of the power of diversity at the academy.

“The power that we come from all walks of life, that we come from all parts of this country, that we come from all races, that we come from all backgrounds, gender, all makeup, all upbringing,” he said. “The power of that diversity comes together and makes us that much more powerful. That’s a much better idea than small thinking and horrible ideas.”

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