Minority Recruiting and US Military Academies

There's an interesting article about how many lawmakers with large minority populations are appointing very few minorities to the US military academies. Given the prestige that should accompany a military academy appointment, and the huge educational, service, and career opportunities that come with it, you'd think the people in those districts would be falling all over themselves to get kids appointed to it.

As the nation's military academies try to recruit more minorities, they aren't getting much help from members of Congress from big-city districts with large numbers of blacks, Hispanics and Asians.

From New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, lawmakers from heavily minority areas rank at or near the bottom in the number of students they have nominated for appointment to West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy or the U.S. Air Force Academy, according to an Associated Press review of records from the past five years.

High school students applying to the academies must be nominated by a member of Congress or another high-ranking federal official. Congressional nominations account for about 75 percent of all students at the academies.

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Also, the military recently put together a how-to booklet on minority recruiting and sent it to all congressional offices, said Charles Garcia, chairman of the Air Force Academy's board of visitors.
In addition, the Air Force Academy has begun flying in congressional staff members from districts with few minority nominations for lessons on recruiting, Garcia said.

"We train them on 'Here are the things other districts have done that is successful,'" he said. "We are hopeful that will have a huge impact going forward."

Rangel, Velazquez and most of the rest of the lawmakers who have made the fewest nominations have been among the loudest critics of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether that is a factor in their low number of nominations is unclear. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a member of the House Out of Iraq Caucus, nevertheless nominated 128 students over the past five years from his Baltimore district, which is 64 percent black.

With help from academy officials, Cummings' staff makes a presentation each spring to schools in his district about how to qualify and apply for an academy nomination. Cummings also designates staffers to respond to questions about the application process, the congressman said through a spokesman.

"There is an openness and a willingness to reach out and help in Cummings' staff that you don't see in the others," said Air Force Maj. Roger Gauret, an instructor in Baltimore Polytechnic Institute's junior ROTC program. "They work it and they make it happen."

While lawmakers can offer assistance, Cummings stressed that it is up to students to seek a nomination, just as they are responsible for taking the right math and science courses, participating in extracurricular activities and keeping in shape.

Rep. Maxine Waters, whose district includes heavily Hispanic and black south Los Angeles and who is among the 20 lowest in nominations, said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made young people in her district question military service. She said her efforts to reach out to high school students have not been very successful.

"In the olden days, parents would even say to young African-Americans, `You aren't doing anything. You don't have a job. Why don't you join the service?'" said Waters, who has nominated 14 students in the past five years. "They don't quite do that anymore."

James Burk, a professor of sociology at Texas A&M University whose research focuses on the military's relationship to society, said many minorities have opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Opposition to this war stokes the memory of Vietnam — the memory of public debate about minority casualties in Vietnam," Burk said.

The list of Congresspersons with the fewest appointments includes this top 10:

1. New York's 12th District, Nydia Velazquez, 4 nominations.
2. New York's 15th District, Charles Rangel, 8 nominations.
(tie) Massachusetts' 8th District, Michael Capuano, 8 nominations.
4. New York's 16th District, Jose Serrano, 9 nominations.
(tie) Pennsylvania's 1st District, Robert Brady, 9 nominations.
6. Florida's 23rd District, Alcee Hastings, 10 nominations.
7. New York's 10th District, Edolphus Towns, 11 nominations.
8. Illinois' 4th District, Luis Gutierrez, 13 nominations.
(tie) Illinois' 1st District, Bobby Rush, 13 nominations.
10. California's 35th District, Maxine Waters, 14 nominations.

By: Brant