White Women Only Minority Coast Guard Recognizes.

Admiral Thad Allen, the Coast Guard Commandant, speaks truth to action, except when it comes to African Americans. According to Admiral Thad Allen white women are the only minority the Coast Guard recognizes. African-Americans, the only Constitutionally protected minority in America is invisible to the Coast Guard. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were added to the U S Constitution in the 19th Century after the bloodiest period in American history to protect the only constitutionally recognized minority in America, the descendents of the freed African slaves. On 28 July 1868, the ratified 14th Amendment was adopted into the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing citizenship and all its privileges to African-Americans.
In July of 2007, Admiral Thad Allen attempts to re-write history to define "minority" as a white woman. Admiral, please!!
"This is a sad day for the Coast Guard," said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard.
"The face of the Coast Guard was forever changed as a result of Adm. Siler's commitment and foresight towards minority recruiting and the advancement of women within the Coast Guard's ranks."

Adm. Owen W. Siler, 85, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard from 1974 to 1978, died from heart failure July 17 at St. Joseph's hospital in Atlanta.
During Siler's tenure as commandant he instituted a "minority recruiting program" and was instrumental in having "women" admitted to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, making it the first of the military service academy (sic) to do so. He also oversaw the expansion of the Coast Guard's marine environmental protection program, with the passage of the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976, to include an increase of the service's jurisdiction along the nation's coastline to more than two million square miles.
By --Lt. j.g. Nadine Santiago | July 19, 2007






This is how the Coast Guard defines "minority". To the Coast Guard a minority is a white woman! In the early 1970's in the EEOC Guidelines to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act Congress expanded the definition of minority to include women, but not exclusively as women.

The Coast Guard Academy Director of Admissions CAPT Susan Bibeau received the Outstanding Achievement in Diversity Management Award at the Third Annual Department of Homeland Security Award Ceremony in Washington D.C., December 6, 2007.

"Every eligible young American committed to acquiring a great education and serving their country deserves a chance to gain admission to the Coast Guard Academy," said Bibeau. As a graduate of the first Academy class to commission women, I understand how important and challenging it is to extend this opportunity to populations who may know little about the Coast Guard. Talent knows no race or gender... it is present everywhere in our society. Further, the Coast Guard deserves access to everyone who can best secure the safety of our nation."
During the past six years as the Academy's director of admissions Bibeau has strategically restructured the Academy admissions processes to attract and sustain greater ethnic and gender diversity within the Corps of Cadets. Her work has included reaching out to leaders of influential national minority organizations such as the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to help the Academy create a model of diversity that is based on excellence and equity.
Also during her tenure, Bibeau has innovated recruiting and outreach strategies such as the Science, Technology, Engineering Program (STEP) and Girls in Technology which have redesigned the preparatory and recruitment strategies to attract both minority students and women.
"Capt. Bibeau's initiative and innovation to create programs that help broaden the diversity at the Academy is commendable," said Rear Adm. J. Scott Burhoe, Coast Guard Academy Superintendent. "Her work to bring together students from diverse backgrounds helps those here at the Academy become more well-rounded cadets and more capable officers in the United States Coast Guard. Embracing diversity is a national security issue, and her work in this area is worthy of this well deserved recognition."



A tree is known by the fruit it bears. What has been the fruit of her labors? There was no mention of raw numbers, or any breakdown by minority ethnic groups. I am sure this award was well deserved. The only question is how well deserved. The issue of awards has always been a sticky point with Black Officers. They never seem to get one. When they do, it is usually left on their desk or simply enetered into their service record, without any fanfare. There usually is little notoriety unless it is presented posthumously.



























The Captain has been at the Academy since 2001. She witnessed the entire Webster Smith fiasco. How has that effected minority recruiting? What was her involvement, if any? As a senior staff officer, she must have been privy to the development? What was her input? Did she have an interest in the minimizing the fallout from the Webster Smith case? Did she feel any compassion or duty to any of the female cadets that allegedly were raped, or were forced to give testimony in the trial of Webster Smith against their free will? What was her relationship to Captain Collela; and, why was Katie’s name taken off the witness list? Not every female cadet with relevant and material evidence to present was required to testify.

Is she retiring or being transferred? Why was this award presented at this time? The citation sounded like something that would be presented at a retirement ceremony.

I wonder if Carmen Walker was present.

(And now a word from a Black Cadet who did not graduate in 2006)
For the Coast Guard Academy (CGA) class of 2011, an academy officer reported a population of “four Black cadets at most.” In the United States of America, African-Americans constitute 12.7% of the population according to the 2000 Census. West Point, Annapolis, and USAFA's cadets/midshipmen reflect those numbers. The average class of cadets reporting to CGA for indoctrination is consistently 300+. Can you imagine 38 Black cadets in one class? It is likely that there are less than 30 Black cadets in the entire cadet population, amassing a whopping 3% of the nation’s prospective Coast Guard Academy officer corps.

Why would diversity help? It would foster a welcoming environment for future servicemen and women. Many Black officers complain that there is a lack of representation in the senior ranks. Admiral Manson Brown is the only hope for Commandant right now. With the all-but-confirmed selection of Vice Admiral Vivien Crea for January 2009, the probability of an African-American president preceding a Black CG Commandant is much higher.

The media has reported the CG’s racially insensitive events over the past few years. With not a single person brought to justice for those occurrences, many Black servicemen and servicewomen feel as though they do not matter. I don’t believe that is the message that the Coast Guard is intending to spread. Merle J. Smith and London Steverson were the first Black cadets to graduate. In 2006, the fortieth anniversary of CDR Smith’s accomplishment saw no fanfare. In 2006, the thirtieth anniversary of an equally important first, received fanfare... banners, speeches, and a lot of attention from the local media.

Diversity is a positive for all races. It aids tolerance and understanding; it alleviates fear of the unknown. It would help the Coast Guard’s image and cohesion to emphasize attracting black talent. Talent is the operative word. Nearly 90% of all admitted Black cadets are sent to preparatory school for one or two years before attending the Academy. When the few that make it through the Naval Academy Preparatory School arrive at the academy, they see that they already know most of their Black classmates from the previous year’s gauntlet. This may contribute to a sense of inferiority in relation to their classmates who came straight from high school.

Find talent by looking in the right places. In 1973, the admissions team scoured the densely populated Black areas of the country—looking for any kid to hand an acceptance letter. That following year, 28 Black cadets showed up in a class of 400+. This was the highest percentage of first year Black cadets ever. By 1977, few had survived to see graduation. In 1978, 4 out of 20 made it; one came so close to being reverted that he was honored at graduation for pulling through. Since then, the average Black population has hovered around 3% of their class.


Across the board, Black officers account for around 6% of the flag officers in the Department of Defense; there is a significant disparity between those numbers and the percentage of senior officers in the Coast Guard, due in part to the flawed (but widely shared) recruiting methods of the past four decades.

There are intelligent Black men and women, all over the country. Show no racial preference in whom you accept; but effectively present opportunity to Black kids at the same elite schools that supply the majority. Decrease the dependence on minority cadets coming from preparatory schools.

Recruiting, accepting, and retaining Black talent in the USCG will alleviate many of the race relations issues in the service. It would remove the burden on RADM Manson K Brown, whose odds on becoming the first Black Commandant are stacked against him.

Potential Black CGA cadets are out there, accepting admittance to Ivy League colleges, top 20 ranked state schools, and the DOD academies. They don’t need preparatory school or any sort of advantage or pass. They are the best too. In a year when Admiral Thad Allen witnessed the valedictorian graduation of a destined, brilliant, young black woman—this is his team’s opportunity to mandate recruiting more like her and letting the numbers and qualifications speak for themselves.

(Posted by Webster M. Smith 18 Jul 2008)

The United States Coast Guard Academy is scheduled to host a free, public Women's Equality Day information fair from 1000 to 1400 on August 26 in Munro Hall at the USCGA.

Each year since 1971, when President Jimmy Carter designated August 26 as Women's Equality Day, the United States has recognized the struggle for equal rights for women.

This year the Coast Guard Academy is celebrating the event with the theme "Strengthening Our Communities" by hosting various Coast Guard and regional community groups on campus.

"This will be a great opportunity for members of our Coast Guard and surrounding New London community to network and learn from the organizations that help support and strengthen our leadership," said LTJG Colleen Jones, Assistant Civil Cights Officer at CGA and the event organizer.

The various organizations in attendance will include the Greater New Haven National Organization of Women, the General Federation of Women's Clubs of Connecticut, National Naval Officers Association, Academy Women, Toastmasters, CG Educational Services, and CG Child Development Center. The League of Women Voters will also be on hand to register people to vote.

The Academy's Morale, Welfare and Recreation office will be giving out prizes to attendees at Women's Equality Day.

(WEST POINT. 12/21/2010) The Coast Guard will have the first woman superintendent of a military service academy at the helm of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy when classes convene next summer. The commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Bob Papp, has selected Rear Adm. Sandra L. Stosz, Coast Guard director of reserve and leadership, for the superintendent position. Rear Admiral Stosz graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1982 with a bachelor of science degree in Government.

"Rear Adm. Stosz has dedicated her career to developing professional Coast Guard men and women," said U.S. Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Robert J. Papp. "We are also extremely proud to be the first service with a woman at the helm of our academy.

The Coast Guard has always led by allowing men and women equal access to all career fields and assignments."

In her current position, Stosz is responsible for policy affecting the recruitment and training of more than 8,000 Coast Guard reserve members. She has also commanded the Coast Guard's only recruit training center in Cape May, N.J. She will be the first and only female commander to head any of the nation's five military academies.

"I am humbled by the prospect of taking over such an important position in our service and honored to be following Rear Adm. Burhoe," said Stosz. "The school and officer corps have benefited in so many ways from Scott's outstanding leadership and vision."

Under the command of the current superintendent, Rear Adm. J. Scott Burhoe, the school was ranked as a top college by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and listed as the number one college in the northeast by U.S. News and World Report. The school had five Fulbright and three Truman scholars during his tenure. Burhoe also improved the school's diversity record, doubling the percentage of minority admissions from 12 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2010.

"Rear Adm. Stosz is an excellent choice to succeed me as superintendent," said Burhoe, "She has a distinguished record of service, and as a member of the board of trustees understands the importance of continuing to move the academy forward on its current track."

Burhoe is scheduled to retire July 1.

The Coast Guard Academy was established in 1876. The oldest service academy is West Point which was established in 1802.




The Coast Guard cannot be trusted to write history. African Americans are left out. They become invisible.
All history is spin. Coast Guard history has been written to ignore African American contributions. On one of the few times the Coast Guard has seen fit to highlight the contributions of an allegedly African American, they racially kidnapped a white Irishman (Michael Healy) and presented him to posterity as a Black man. This blog is a light shining in the darkness. It is partially an attempt to set the record straight. An ounce of truth benefits like the ripples on a pond.

BRING ME MEN.
Bring me men to match my rivers, continent cleaners flowing free,
Drawn by eternal madness, to be mingled with the sea.
Men of oceanic impulse, Men whose moral compass sweep
Towards the wide, infolding ocean of an undiscovered deep.
Men who feel the strong pulsation of the central sea, and then
Time their currents by its earth throbs--

BRING ME MEN.