A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit was filed on Monday to compel the U.S. Air Force Academy to turn over any training and classroom instruction materials it has that discuss critical race theory (CRT) or “white supremacy.”
Judicial Watch, a self-described conservative legal watchdog organization filed the FOIA lawsuit in a federal court in D.C. after it said the Air Force Academy failed to respond to an Aug. 5, 2021 FOIA request to turn over the training and classroom materials.
“Marxist critical race theory and its racial division have no place at the Air Force Academy, which is training the next generations of Air Force leadership,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said of the new lawsuit. “And, per usual, the scandal is compounded by the cover-up of records about the propaganda program abusing Air Force cadets.”
The new FOIA lawsuit against the Air Force Academy is the latest effort by Judicial Watch to investigate whether the various military service academies are instructing future military officers based on CRT.
In September, Judicial Watch and a veteran organization called Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS) filed a separate FOIA lawsuit against the Air Force Academy to produce any training or instructional materials it has regarding “systemic racism.”
Judicial Watch also filed a FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in July, after pursuing their CRT-related training materials through the FOIA process for a year without success.
Judicial Watch also previously filed a FOIA request for CRT-related materials from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In June, West Point turned over those requested documents, revealing instructional materials on “Critical Race Theory,” and “queer theory” and materials teaching that “Whiteness” entails structural advantages and race privilege.
One three-credit course in West Point’s Social Sciences Department assigns readings from the text “Critical Race Theory: An Introduction” by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic.
A slide in a West Point slideshow states that “in order to understand racial inequality and slavery, it is first necessary to address whiteness.” The slide further states that “Whiteness” is a “standpoint or place from which white people look at themselves and the rest of society,” and refers to “a set of cultural practices that are usually unmarked and unnamed.”
Another slide is titled “By The Numbers” and includes a graphic titled “Modern Day Slavery.” The slide describes disparities in education and employment opportunities and in the criminal justice system. The slide states:
Blacks are more likely than whites to:
Live below the poverty line
Be victims of homicide (6:1)
Be incarcerated (8:1)
and
Blacks are less likely than whites to:
Have a college education
Receive recommended medical screening tests
Receive bank approval for a housing mortgage
Own their own homes
Receive a job promotion
The Judicial Watch FOIA requests come as primarily-Republican lawmakers have increasingly questioned and criticized what it sees as politically-slanted and divisive “woke” practices throughout the U.S. military.
