Photo By Staff Sgt. Vito Bryant | Author Ta-Nehisi Coates addresses U.S. Military Academy cadets and faculty in Robinson...... read more read more
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The U.S. Military Academy at West Point’s Department of English and Philosophy hosted the second annual Zengerle Lecture in the Arts and Humanities, with speaker, author Ta-Nehisi Coates, April 12.
The lecture, endowed by Joseph (USMA Class of 1964) and Lynda Zengerle, demonstrates the Academy’s enduring commitment to humanities education at West Point. The goal of the lecture is to “counter insularity” and forward equality while bridging the civilian-military divide. Last year’s lecturer was President of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin Faust.
Coates addressed an audience of over 800 USMA cadets, staff and faculty members at Robinson Auditorium.
“I had to come here because I can’t think of a more important place to be for the things that I discuss, the things I’ve spent basically since my childhood perusing,” Coates recalled when he was accepting his invitation to speak at West Point. “It was my feeling that those who are charged with defending the country have to know the country.”
Coates was captivated by the Cadet Honor Code when he noticed it was carved in the middle of the cadet area.
“A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
He referenced it throughout his remarks.
“I know you have this great responsibility while you’re here to not cheat, not lie, not steal, and to not tolerate those who do, but I want you always to think beyond the individual, think about the country that you’re charged to defend, think about the country that invests so much in you, think about the institution that you love here,” he said. “Think about that, and if you’re going to be intolerant about the deceptions amongst each other, there’s nothing wrong with being equally intolerant with the deceptions people ask you to submit to.”
During a Q and A period following his remarks a cadet asked about a passage in Coates’ book Between the World and Me. The cadet asked Coates to clarify the quote: “I could see no difference between the officer who killed Prince Jones and the police who died or the firefighters who died, they were not human to me, black, white, whatever, they were menaces of nature.”
Coates explained that Prince Jones was a friend he met at Howard University who, in 2000, was followed and was shot and killed by a police officer. Coates explained how angry it made him that following the death of his friend, the state of Virginia investigated Prince but did not charge or investigate the officer, even though his police department had numerous cases against it.
“You have to understand what that does to you, how that makes you feel about your country and your relationship to your country, because the police are the representatives of your country,” he said. “We need police to have a law abiding society, but when there’s absolutely no accountability... I had no sympathy for anybody at that point because I felt so strongly that the country had no sympathy for my friend Prince Jones who is dead in the ground.”
He continued.
“Time passes and you grow, you get a little wiser, you understand your anger is not good for anybody,” he said. “So I don’t feel that same way today, I definitely don’t, but Between the World and Me is a work of literature and its job is to, more than anything, to capture the feeling, and I felt that way at that time, I was cold, I was absolutely cold, and I think any other human being exchanging places in that situation might have felt the same way.”
The audience applauded his response.
Coates recommended that all cadets read Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs, saying that his works influenced his writing, and offered additional insight to be more inclusive, open-minded leaders.
Head of the Department of English and Philosophy, Col. Dave Harper, presented Coates a gift from the Academy and the crowd gave two standing ovations.
"We have a tradition of bringing award-winning authors to USMA, to include provocative authors," Harper said. "Our goal is challenge cadets by exposing them to varying worldviews so that they may grapple with substantive issues, better preparing them to lead Soldiers within our diverse Army."
Cadet Ryan Gunderman, a senior English major, read Coates’ book and waited in a long line of cadets to get it signed.
“We, as future leaders, as future officers, as citizens of the United States of America, need to constantly work to uncover these myths, to constantly question and think about these issues, I think it’s our duty. And to read books like these,” Gunderman said. “I’m personally excited as an African American cadet to see someone who is so entrenched in the issues, who knows so much about it, to come and speak about it to a population that has more to learn about it… It’s not just inspiring but it’s also very encouraging to me to know that my peers are as invested, they see these same things and they’re ready and willing to learn and hear about it.”
| Date Taken: | 04.12.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 04.12.2017 17:37 |
| Story ID: | 230189 |
| Location: | WEST POINT, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 1,201 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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