If the current turmoil over the meaning and appropriateness of a photographed gesture made by uniformed African-American female West Point cadets is to be rationally considered, it needs to be viewed rationally through the prism of modern American history and culture. Within this context , not only do I defend these West Point women, I EMPHATICALLY AND EFFUSIVELY APPLAUD THEM! And the West Point leadership hierarchy should do likewise. Over the five decades since the "Olympic Project for Human Rights" gesture by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, the "raised clenched fist" has entered the pantheon of AFRICAN-AMERICAN GENERALIZED GESTURES OF CULTURAL EXPRESSION relating to consciousness of struggle, commitment to purpose, and determination to prevail - both individually and collectively.

Given the challenges that cadets - and female cadets in particular - must surmount to progress and graduate from West Point, the very notion, the presumption that the raised fist gesture among these young adult African-American women is freighted with any of the odious and utterly objectionable implications and imagery as the Nazi salute is insanely ludicrous. Simple common sense should compel the understanding that were they of such a state of mind and political disposition, they would not have sought appointment to and enrolled at West Point in the first place. And they most certainly would not have persevered through graduation.

Similarly, the notion that the gesture made by these female cadets was somehow inherently expressive of ANY aspect of the "Black Lives Matter" movement (these female cadets have made no such connection themselves), much less associated with any of the BLM movement's alleged more provocative or extreme sentiments, also must be regarded as contrived and outrageous.

As one who has lectured at West Point (and who was so moved by the character, the unparalleled devotion and commitment to honor, duty, and country of the young women and men who I interacted with there that I donated my agreed upon reimbursement and compensation to the "Cadets' Activity Fund" and have been a donor ever since), it is inconceivable to me that these West Point cadets - who just happen to be Women and Black - could have intended ANYTHING beyond an expression of their immense sense of achievement and pride in graduating, and their no less adamant and unflagging commitment to fulfilling their career missions as Officers of the United States Military. And based upon reports from some who have spoken directly to them, this is indeed the case. To quote from the New York Times article:

"Others who have spoken with the cadets said evoking the Black Lives Matter movement was not their intention...For them it was not a sign of allegiance to a movement , it's a sign that means unity and pride and sisterhood . That fist to them meant they and their sisters did what only a few people , male or female , have ever done in this country".

Ironically, there is a second photo accompanying the Times article on the Black Women cadets' raised fist salute. It is an 1884 photo of cadets (according to the Times) "clustered", or better put, sprawled about in assorted positions and poses that TO MY MIND could suggest nothing so much as a casual,all White, racially segregated fraternity gathering - one reportedly "mimicked in group photos last week" by some current graduating cadets. If I might be so brash as to ask, where is the institutional and popular concern expressed over THIS "gesture"? Where is the concern for an adherence to discipline and decorum in uniform and for avoiding THIS "gesture that could offend someone by its usage (which) qualifies it as a symbol that goes against Army policies."

Quite frankly, at one level I might well be justified in being offended by cadets today mimicking poses originally staged by all White "clusters" of cadets photographed at a time when African-Americans were not accepted into West Point. On the other hand, I am perfectly open and amenable to the possibility, even the probability, that today's cadets are simply expressing an allegiance to WEST POINT FRATERNITY (AND NOW, SORORITY) and TRADITION, and IT IS THESE SENTIMENTS THAT ARE AT THE HEART OF THEIR "PHOTO GESTURE" - not conscious identification with the segregationist ideology and organization of West Point in the 1880's.

Commensurately, these women cadets should be taken seriously and taken at their word as to the purpose and message of their gesture. And, by the way, and not at all coincidentally, when framed within the context of that purpose, of that message, the photo of their raised fist gesture might not only be rendered acceptable, but it could well become the best instrument for the recruitment of African-American women into West Point since it was opened to women cadet candidates.

In sum, that gesture by these West Point African-American women communicates unequivocally that THEY ARE COMPETITIVE, THAT THEY ARE ACCOMPLISHED, AND THAT THEY BELONG. Their raised fist gesture is just THEIR WAY of declaring that fact, that status, that legitimacy.