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Editorial: A welcome sign of progress in a season of racial disharmony

 
West Point Cadet Simone Askew makes history.
West Point Cadet Simone Askew makes history.
Published Aug. 18, 2017

As first captain, the highest student position at the U.S. Military Academy, Simone Askew will stand out this academic year among the nearly 1,200 members of the Class of 2018. As the first African-American female to hold the prestigious honor, Askew will stand out for all eternity in West Point lore.

While it's a well-deserved and celebrated achievement for the 20-year-old from northern Virginia, it is also a monumental moment for the nation. The white nationalists marching in the streets and chanting racist slogans elsewhere in Virginia could learn a few things about leadership, dignity and accomplishment from Cadet Askew.

An international history major who is considering a career in military intelligence, Askew was the school president and homecoming queen at Fairfax High and spent summers working at orphanages in the Dominican Republic. Now, less than four years after her high school graduation, she has assumed a role that John J. Pershing, Douglas MacArthur, William Westmoreland and a host of other generals once held at West Point.

The daughter of a white mother and African-American father, Askew is a shining example of America's strength and glory. It is a nation that can simultaneously recognize free speech rights, even for the hate-filled rants of small-minded bigots, and celebrate the gender and cultural triumph of a young woman who grew up with dreams of becoming a military leader.