Nancy Mace fires back after Shannon Faulkner's speech at The Citadel

Nancy Mace fires back after Shannon Faulkner's speech at The Citadel

[perkinsvalentine]

Shannon was a joke - not for trying to get in, but for looking like a desperate attention seeker who embarrassed every equal right proponent in this country. I was young and yucked it up with everyone else - when after making a federal case she quite literally fell on her face. She was barely in shape for a public school gym class much less "Hell Week" at The Citadel. No one even mentions she didn't have to work at the same level as the cadets, there was a double standard and that's what pissed people off. So many women have been a much better example (Nancy Mace) yet have the humility not to self promote, while she carries herself off as the Rosa Parks of 80's. Not on my watch.

[dahawk]

Nancy Mace's response is deeply saddening.
Her position is akin to this...
Imagine a WWII soldier who on D-Day was on the first landing craft to arrive at Normandy. This person got shot in the head immediately upon leaving the landing craft while still in the ocean, and never made it to dry land. Years later, the family of this soldier says how their relative was a D-Day veteran having stormed the beaches of Normandy. There is a Private N. Mace who then interjects:
"Your beloved soldier never made it to the beach. I wear the ring of those who made it, and you don't deserve this ring."

Pvt N. Mace speaks so proudly because their bravery involved being onboard the second wave of landing craft. All these decades later, shows no appreciation for the sacrifice of those who died in that first wave. And btw, Pvt N. Mace is the offspring of General Eisenhower. Pvt Mace makes no recognition of the fact of all the special advantages this came with, which that soldier who died in the first wave did not have. Let alone the battle they fought which preceded D-Day. That legal battle which was taken all the way up to the US Supreme Court to give this soldier the right to be in that first wave.

If I was running The Citadel, I would push for a ruling where Shannon Faulkner was made an Honorary Graduate. A strong argument can be made that what she accomplished was far greater than anything Nancy Mace ever did to become a Citadel grad. And also every single other Citadel grad who preceded her. Except for perhaps that first black cadet. What Shannon Faulkner did was comparable to his accomplishment. No matter whether he graduated, or ended up leaving after one day.

It is a travesty to downplay the role of those who were first to approach the beaches of Normandy. It does not matter whether they made it onto the beach. It does not matter if they made it all the way to Berlin. Their role was vital in securing this beachhead. No one should ever forget what Shannon Faulkner did.

Especially not Nancy Mace.

Yes, Mace. You do have a point of technicality that Faulkner did not graduate. She did not earn a ring. Instead of criticizing her, you have the option to push for legislation so that South Carolina can make amends for the horrible things they did to her. You can insist that The Citadel MAKES her a graduate, in honorary form. And that The Citadel gives her a ring. You could even give her your own. That's what I would do with my ring. And every other graduate from that institution can offer to give her theirs, until the school official recognizes what she did. Or more to the point, apologizes for what they did to her. And the ring would be the smallest of tokens of reparation.

Citadel graduate Pat Conroy had a strong sense of decency. He paid for Shannon's subsequent education.

About the author:
A graduate of a military academy in the USA. Not the Citadel. But one further to the west. And while attending this academy, visited with his old school friend who was a cadet at the Citadel.

[caj]

The Citadel is a second-tier military academy attended by second-tier people. Most graduates will never enter the military, unlike the US service academies like West Point and Annapolis. It has the same connection to the military that just about any other four-year accredited college has in this country. The first black cadet entered West Point in 1873, while the first black cadet didn't enter the Citadel until 1966 I believe. The first woman entered West Point in 1976, while Shannon Faulkner entered the Citadel in 1994, and Nancy Mace two years later. As far as I know, all the federal service academies admitted blacks and women before the Citadel or VMI did. Remember also that the Citadel is a public university, so they don't have the right to discriminate against sex, race or religion. Norwich University, a private military college in Vermont, can theoretically discriminate all they want yet they admitted women before the Citadel did. I was sickened by the sight of all those cadets happily celebrating when Shannon Faulkner left, thought it was rather disgusting. For those who say, too bad, she just couldn't hack it, well remember all the other plebes weren't going through a lawsuit at the same time and Shannon Faulkner shouldn't have had to sue the school to attend.

[socksal]

Her mother, Sandra Faulkner, was my teacher in High Scool. She was an arrogant bully.