I’ve always believed in the American Dream. June 7th, 2020 is the 42nd anniversary of my graduation from West Point and I often tell the story of how attending the United States Military Academy (USMA) recast my life. Growing up middle class in the American Heartland, I worked hard in high school, and was lucky enough to earn an appointment to the Academy. While there, I was diligent about my studies and graduated in 1978. My persistence paid off, and it literally changed the course of my life, leading to successful military and corporate careers. I was able to achieve my version of The American Dream.

Most people aren’t aware, but every graduate of West Point is assigned a “Cullum Number”. The Cullum Numbering system started in 1802 with the very first graduate, and continued with numbering every single graduate through the years. When I graduated from West Point in 1978, my Cullem Number was 35,591. That is, in the 176 years of the Academy’s existence at the time, I was the 35,591st graduate.

Prior to 1978, do you know how many African American graduates West Point produced? Fewer than 300. Let that sink in. In 175 years, out of 35,265 graduates (through the class of ‘77), there were fewer than 300 black graduates from USMA.

White Privilege is a real thing. Sometimes, we don’t think about white privilege happening, until well after it actually occurs. Without a doubt, I worked hard to get into West Point, worked hard at the Academy, and continued to work hard after I graduated. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t also the beneficiary of White Privilege. These two things can both be true at the same time. I’m proud of graduating from West Point and happy for the life-path graduation afforded me. As I’ve become older, I’m also more aware of some of the circumstances which enabled my opportunity.

We need to be aware of and confront racism, no matter its guise. Certainly the horrific murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd are overt examples and must be dealt with. We also need to look at our own lives and gain an awareness of who we are, and how we got to where we are. The American Dream should be something all of us can strive for.

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Addendum:

⁃ Thanks to my West Point classmates Stan Ford and Chuck Allen for their input and contributions to this blog. Both are teachers – Stan at a Junior High School in Syracuse, NY, and Chuck at the Army War College. They are men I deeply respect.

⁃ If you want to learn more about African American graduates of West Point, Chuck has written a great article. When WWII started, there were only four African American graduates from the Academy, and only two African American active duty line officers in the Army. Here’s the article: https://www.army.mil/article/40763/the_legacy_of_henry_o_flipper_in_the_u_s_army

⁃ I’ve written three other blogs about race relations. I have to say, they don’t appear to do much good. You can find them here:

• September 2016: Diversity, Really? A blog about education and racism. https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/diversity-really/

• August 2017: This is not my America. A blog about my niece and the KKK and Nazi incidents in Charlottesville, Virginia in August, 2017. https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/this-is-not-my-america/

• April, 2020: “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Revisited. A blog about Martin Luther King Jr, his jailing in Birmingham on Good Friday 1963, and his subsequent publishing of “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/07/letter-from-birmingham-jail-revisited/

⁃ If you wish to learn more about Cullum Numbers, you can find information here: https://www.westpointaog.org/Cullum