Record number of black women just graduated from West Point, making it the most diverse class ever

A record number of black women graduated from West Point this past weekend. In fact, it’s West Point’s most diverse graduating class ever. As reported by the HuffPost, a total of 34 black women cadets graduated with Bachelor of Science degrees. They’re also commissions as 2nd lieutenants in the U.S. Army. (Context: After cadets finish at the academy, they serve on active duty in the military for a minimum of five years.)

This probably goes without saying, but West Point’s graduating class is mostly white. It’s also mostly male. For the 2019 graduating class of 1,270 cadets, only 189 in total are black. And in terms of gender, only 280 are female. So to put this into perspective, the 34 black women who graduated this Saturday make up less than 3% of the entire graduating class.

"I just showed myself and those who thought I couldn't do it initially that yes, I can," Stephanie Riley, one of the graduating cadets, told TIME magazine in an interview. "And not just, 'yes, I can.' I can show other little girls that yes, you can come to West Point. Yes, you can do something that maybe the rest of your peers aren't actually doing, and yes, you can be different from the rest of the group."

Some quick history on race and gender at West Point. The first woman to graduate from West Point was Andrea Hollen, in the class of 1980. Vincent Brooks, the first black cadet to serve as a first captain, was also in that class.

Not even two years ago, Simone Askew became the first black woman to be named the first captain of the carps of cadets, which is the highest position a student can hold at West Point. And not even one year ago, Lt. Gen. Darryl A. Williams became the first black officer to command the academy as superintendent. 

“My hope when young black girls see these photos is that they understand that regardless of what life presents you, you have the ability and fortitude to be a force to be reckoned with,” cadet Tiffany Welch-Baker told Because of Them We Can in an interview.

Structural racism and sexism hit as a double whammy for women of color pursuing higher education. Getting into college is one obstacle, but it doesn’t always end there. 

“I definitely struggled sometimes, because sometimes I’d be the only woman of color, or even woman in general in my classes,” cadet Bria Errington told Refinery29. This point is another reason why it’s so important to actively center women of color and work to not only increase diversity attendance numbers but actually restructure spaces to eliminate systemic and implicit bias. 

from Daily Kos http://bit.ly/2EEZoLj