“ But the story of how Powell was promoted to brigadier general and received his first star is an antidote to that poisonous claim. He was elevated on the watch of another “first Black” pioneer, the late Clifford Alexander, who served as the secretary of the Army from 1977 to 1981. Alexander refused to put forward a long list of officers to promote to generals because the list didn’t include any of the decorated Black colonels who had served with distinction. There was a smattering of Black colonels on the second list that came back, but Alexander sent that one back, too, saying it still didn’t provide a full enough sense of the talent within the ranks. This process happened on repeat until that list came back a fourth time with a larger and more appropriate number of Black prospects.
Powell’s name was on that fourth list. What does Hegseth think? Would he disparagingly call Powell a DEI hire? Would he say Alexander had “woke mind virus”?
In a 1997 op-ed in The New York Times, Alexander argued that Powell’s promotion was a result not of affirmative action but rather of a leveling of the playing field. He said the people responsible for developing such lists “followed my directives, and the result was equity and fairness. Black people with sterling records emerged on those lists.” According to Alexander, Powell “did not get anything extra — but more important, his white colleagues did not get anything extra, either.”“
http://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/pete-hegseth-colin-powell-dei-military-rcna180717
| 
