West Point Cadet, Simone Askew, Breaks a Racial and Gender BarrierPosted in Articles, Media Archive, United States, Women on 2017-08-16 14:28Z by Steven |
West Point Cadet, Simone Askew, Breaks a Racial and Gender Barrier
The New York Times
2017-08-14
 Simone Askew became the first African-American woman to hold the highest student position at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Credit Hilary Swift for The New York Times |
WASHINGTON — As a 6-year-old child camping in the Virginia woods, Simone Askew marched for fun, wielding a plastic gun and leading her young sister and friends in formation. A few years later, the sight of Navy midshipmen striding across an Annapolis football field solidified her desire to be the person who led troops.
“What does it take,” she asked her mother at the football game, pointing to the cadets, “to lead that?”
On Monday, more than a decade after her pretend marches in the woods, Cadet Askew, now 20, led the freshmen Army cadets for 12 miles — the first African-American woman to hold the highest student position at the United States Military Academy. As the West Point corps of cadets first captain, the Northern Virginia resident will not only be at the forefront of every academy event, but she will set the class agenda and oversee the roughly 4,400 students…
…Cadet Askew’s mother, who works to develop affordable housing, is white and is divorced from Cadet Askew’s father, who is African-American. The mother is nervous about the pressure she knows her daughter will put on herself, aware of the spotlight she’s under at West Point.
“I look forward to the end of her term in this position where many say she was an amazing first captain, not just she was an amazing African-American female first captain,” she said…
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