Global Courant 2023-05-09 11:00:40
FIRST ON FOX: A US Merchant Marine Academy official is under fire for a series of racially charged tweets, including one attributing misogyny and racism to “the same white, male root.”
Anton Tripolskii, who was hired at the Kings Point, New York school as the director of $142,595 a year in sexual assault, sent a June 2020 tweet that is now the target of a scathing letter from the National Anti-Woke Woke Caucus American home.
“We have no powers that do justice to survivors of intimate partner and sexual assault because we don’t have powers that do not abuse brown and black people,” Tripolskii wrote in the controversial tweet. “Same forces, same reasons. Misogyny and racism grow from the same white male root.”
The Anti-Woke Caucus is now calling on the academy superintendent to demand answers to Tripolskii’s Twitter activity, which was installed in September.
The letter — signed by Republican Delegates Jim Banks of Indiana, Mary Miller of Illinois, Jeff Duncan of South Carolina and Brian Babin of Texas — comes amid allegations from some midshipmen that the service academy is under the authority of Superintendent Vice Adm. Joanna Nunan and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has become more and more “awake.”
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From July 1, 2019 to December 15, 2022, there were 26 reported cases of sexual assault in the USMMA, according to a report submitted to Congress.
Citing multiple tweets from before his time at the academy, the members of the caucus asked for clarification as to whether Tripolskii’s “outspoken comments about race and gender in the United States are reflective of the academy and its beliefs.”
Members note that Tripolskii a user retweeted in October 2020 who suggested that “white males with a history of domestic and sexual violence” are more likely to become “radicalized terrorists”.
In April 2020, Tripolskii tweeted a political cartoon depicting a church closed and sealed off by police, while stores labeled “Twitter Drama” and “Fiona Apple Album” remained open. “This is my heaven,” he wrote.
“We hope that the Merchant Marines will reject Mr. Tripolskii’s argument that society is incapable of treating survivors of rape and sexual assault or, more broadly, Americans of all ethnicities with dignity and respect,” the members wrote. of the Anti-Woke Caucus. “In the same vein, we hope that the Merchant Marines would reject the argument that any failures in that regard ‘grow from the same white male root’.”
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The letter went on to say that Tripolskii explained in an email he sent to all midshipmen in April regarding the “inaugural field day” of the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office academy that the purpose of the event was to “Support LGBTQ+ community members.”
Misogyny and racism grow from the same white male root.
“The identity of LGBTQ+ people is being marginalized in our society, making it more difficult to report and seek help for sexual violence, which LGBTQ+ people in particular are facing at an unacceptably high rate,” Tripolskii wrote, according to a copy of the email obtained by Fox News digitally.
John Guttelein, a 2022 graduate of the school, told Fox News Digital earlier this year that when he enrolled, shirts with a rainbow logo were handed out to midshipmen who wanted to wear sweatpants during a similar “Spirit Day.” Those who refused to wear the rainbow shirt were required to wear their standard khaki uniform.
Sailors from the Merchant Marine Academy are shown during the national anthem for the Arizona Diamondbacks-New York Mets game at Citi Field on August 23, 2017 in New York City. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
Multiple midshipmen who currently attend the academy and spoke to Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity said the “awake” ideology has seeped into the school and accelerated under Buttigieg, whose Department of Transportation oversees the service academy.
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Members of Congress concluded their letter by emphasizing the academy’s outspoken commitment to inclusion, and questioned whether Tripolskii’s sentiments “belittle white men as a group” contribute to this.
They further asked whether the academy agrees with Tripolskii that misogyny and racism “grow from the same white, male root” and whether such attitudes may cause white male midshipmen to be reluctant to advance allegations of sexual assault.
New cadet midshipmen of the Class of 1972 at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York are sworn into the Naval Reserve on August 31, 1968. (Newsday LLC via Getty Images)
The House subcommittee overseeing the DOT steered the academy forward page 99 of the Credit Act last year to “implement SASH (sexual assault and sexual harassment) prevention measures, provide additional support to survivors, help support broader culture change in the (academy) and maritime industry, and advance measures to promote diversity, equality and inclusion to support. “
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The 26-member House Anti-Woke Caucus, which Banks helped create earlier this year, has asked members of 12 credit committees to remove such language from their bills.
Representative Jim Banks, R-Ind., and other members of the House Anti-Woke Caucus have called on members of 12 subcommittees to remove “politically weaponized language from all government funding bills.” (Alex Wong / Getty Images / File)
“Mr. Tripolskii’s comments are divisive and inaccurate and disqualify him from a job at a U.S. service academy,” Banks told Fox News Digital. “It appears that House Democrats, along with Secretary Buttigieg, have used their appropriations bill to politicize the US Merchant Marine Academy and approve the hiring of far-left ideologues.”
“The Anti-Woke Caucus is calling on all Republicans to use our majority to remove this kind of politically weaponized language from all government funding bills,” added Banks.
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A spokesperson for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy confirmed to Fox News Digital that they had received the letter from the caucus members and said the academy remains focused on strengthening sexual assault prevention and response capabilities in support of midshipmen on campus and cadets at sea.
Jon Brown is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to jon.brown@fox.com.