Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Indiana Rep. Jim Banks To Prioritize ‘Combatting Wokeness’ As Chair Of Military Personnel Subcommittee

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Republican Indiana Rep. Jim Banks will prioritize “combatting wokeness” in the military as Chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee.

Banks, an Afghanistan veteran and Naval Reserve officer and candidate for U.S. Senate, “will make combatting wokeness at the [Department of Defense] the subcommittee’s top priority,” a staffer told the Daily Caller.

“We can’t expect our service members to give their lives for our country when at the same time we’re teaching them that America is evil and inherently racist,” Banks told the Caller.

“Wokeness is the greatest domestic threat to military readiness and I will use my Chairmanship to bring accountability to the partisan officials pushing this poison on our troops,” Banks added. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Introduce Anti-CRT Bill Requiring School Districts To Publicly Post Curriculum)

Banks publicly criticized the Navy in Feb. 2021 for including the 2019 book “How to Be an Antiracist” on its 2021 reading list. The book, authored by historian Ibram X. Kendi, promotes “explicitly anti-American” views, according to Banks.

The Military Personnel Subcommittee within the House Armed Services Committee “is responsible for military personnel policy, reserve component integration and employment issues, military health care, military education and POW/MIA issues,” according to its official website.

Banks is running for Senate to fill the seat being vacated by Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Braun. Banks was first elected to Congress in 2016 and previously served as chairman of the Republican Study Committee.