Posted on 11/26/2009 1:52:57 PM PST by reaganaut1
Eight years after the U.S. Coast Guard and the NAACP signed a voluntary agreement to work together to boost the number of African-Americans at its 1,000-cadet service academy, the annual enrollment and graduation figures for blacks remain in single digits.
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Under a House bill, sponsored by Oberstar and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the Coast Guard subcommittee chairman, members of Congress would nominate candidates for the academy.
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On a 385-11 vote last month, the House advanced the legislation to the Senate.
The Coast Guard Academy historically has taken pride in viewing itself merit-based and choosing its applicants without regard to their geographical distribution among the states.
Cummings, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, expects black enrollment to grow with congressional involvement, at least in part because the House typically has about 40 black lawmakers who would be effective recruiters in largely black districts.
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The Coast Guard, for its own 2013 Class, offered admission to 411 of 1,672 applicants, with 290 accepting offers. Only 47 blacks had applied, with seven being offered admission and five accepting. At the same time, 26 Hispanics and five Asian-Americans accepted admission.
"We are able to attract the cream of the crop, but more importantly, the Coast Guard has the ability to select applicants which meet its demands," Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., a Coast Guard veteran, said of the current admissions system "This could continue with a direct nomination process, but it injects a component that removes the academy from the equation."
The Coast Guard must graduate 70 percent of its cadets in science, math and technological fields. For the 2013 Class, the average SAT math and verbal scores totaled 1240, with the average GPA a 3.8, and half of the students were in the top 10 percent of their high school class.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Academy may have difficulty attracting black students because blacks who fit its academic profile are wooed by scholarships to many other universities.
Being black makes them special? Are subcommittee chairs going to be able to nominate whites as well?
I believe the US Supreme Court had something to say on this in the firefighter case from Connecticutt?
No worries. This is the “weekly, mandatory. race-baiting, victimhood mentality article” from your libtard friends at the AP.
Maybe they could study hard and get in???
A friend of mine had a totally dysfunctional son who went through a drug diversion program, decided he wanted to change his life and go into the military and (because his mother wouldn’t let him join the Marines) applied to the CG. He had to study like a maniac and learn all the stuff he had ignored in high school, but he made it in and is now happy as a clam in the CG.
Blacks can do the same. To say otherwise is to say something that I don’t think most blacks would like.
Oh yes, lets lower the standards for the Coast Guard candidates. I’d feel much safer in my sinking boat to see a boatload of black Coast Guard servicemen and women coming to rescue me.
George: What about the Coast Guard? Seems like a lot of pride there, a lot of tradition.
Jerry: What about your sea sickness?
George: Maybe I could be a land guy.
Jerry: I don’t know if they have land guys.
So, you look at the source and dismiss the article?
I hope none will take this as racist but there may be very good reasons why young black males might not be attracted to a branch of the service that is likely to involve a lot of time not just on the ocean but in it as well.
Since blacks are attracted to the military it sure can not be that they don’t want to serve. It could be they just don’t want to serve in the Coast Guard. And all the incentives and demands in the world will not change that.
Here lies the problem you moronic Congressional Black Caucus congress critters.
The black ghetto culture abhors blacks who act white by being "smart" or "academic achievement" Better to be a dumb ass wanna be gangster than a dead smart kid.
It'd truly an travesty that literally thousands of young bright black Americans cannot escape the hellholes their "black leadership" have trapped them in
When will the NAACP end it's discrimination against 4'3" Asian women in pro basketball?
Maybe whites should get the same deal with the NBA.?
Seems they have the same problem that Special Operations units have, for all their efforts only 1-1/2 to 2% of Special Operations is black and that is in every branch.
I want to know why blacks MUST represent 12% of the military. Why is it racist or racism if blacks do not represent their 12% there? Is it not an all volunteer force? I can tell you from 20 years of service (and counting) they have every opportunity. They are no different than me but because they are not there in their 12% representational number somehow whites are to blame. Trust me...the armed services of the US are equal opportunity like no other and are also sick of the race baiting issues that are completely divisive. Blacks in the military have seen what I am talking about. They are well past this invented issue. Yes, there are racists in the US military, just like everywhere else, and guess what...it crosses all races. So you race-baiting-American-hating-liberals tell us why it is I, the white male am the ONLY racist? You’re all FRAUDS of the highest order...you do not want racism to actually go away...its your only power.
You cant win for losing with these people. First they complain that minorities are overrepresented in the service, as if that’s a bad thing, and now they complain that they are underrepresented in a particular niche.
Naturally, the Post does not want to approach this objectively. If it did, it would ask whether minorities who apply have an equal, worse, or better chance of admission than white applicants *with the same grades and test scores.*
The answer, no doubt, refutes the liberal agenda.
Now you’re just being silly. Bottom line: we NEED Blacks in the Coast Guard, that’s all there is to it. HOW CAN THE COAST GUARD FUNCTION WITHOUT THE REQUISITE NUMBER OF BLACKS!?!?
Do they require swimming?
Flame on if you must. I grew up mixed race, still am. My friends and I would spend all the time we could either in the creek or at the public pool. The blacks, not so much. They just didn’t like the water. He**, they weren’t even black back then. They were negroes.
1. Should blacks be in the CG? Yes
2. Is there a swimming test? Yes
3. Should all members of the CG be very strong swimmers? Yes
Sorry —that’s the reality of it. Same thing for SF, too.
Someone needs to get Congress by the ears and loudly but firmly tell them that no matter how much they mandate, if someone doesn’t cut the scores and GPA, they’re not qualified, and no amount of chest thumping or Al and Jesse’s whining will make it so.
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