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Published on: 2/5/2008
Last Visited: 2/5/2008
To do otherwise, Dr. Samuel Betances said, would compromise our national security.
"Diversity is the right thing," Dr. Betances said.
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Dr. Betances, whose mother was Puerto Rican and whose father was African American, grew up in Harlem.He flunked the Air Force's entrance exam because of poor language skills, and he then started working at a hospital.
An older woman befriended him and handed him a tool that he used to open doors - a dictionary.
Poor people living in ghettos have a vocabulary of about 800 words, he said, while the middle class typically uses about 3,500 words.Lessons, books and exams are written for people who know the 3,500 words, he added.
"I was incompetent in two languages - black English and street Spanish," he said with self-deprecating humor.
Dr. Betances' delivery was lively, and several times during the 55-minute talk the audience broke into laughter and applause.
One of the funniest moments came when Dr. Betances explained that he learned to speak properly by reading aloud the sermons of the Rev. Billy Graham and the speeches of President John F. Kennedy.He then illustrated by delivering snippets of old-fashioned sermons, and by reciting Mr. Kennedy's speeches in an echoing Boston accent.
Dr. Betances said his siblings were lost in a world of drugs, poverty and violence, and he was well on the way to being a thug.But with better language skills came a chance to finish high school, just as Harvard University was looking to recruit young black students.
Today, Dr. Betances holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard and the University of Chicago, and he has been a diversity consultant to three presidents.
The Naval Academy allowed a reporter from The Capital to cover Dr. Betances' talk, but not to interview midshipmen.
When introducing Dr. Betances, Brigade Commander Midshipman 1st Class Zerbin Singleton called diversity "important to our Navy and Marine Corps team."
During a question-and-answer period following Dr. Betances' talk, only two midshipmen had time for questions.
The first, a junior, asked if the government should be bilingual to accommodate illegal immigrants.
Dr. Betances responded that immigrants, regardless of their legal status, often don't speak English, but they should learn as quickly as possible.Meanwhile, their children should not be stunted while the family masters a new language, he said.
"The children who do not know how to learn English can be taught their science and their math in their mother tongue, in a language they do know, while they learn English," he said."I take great pride in being able to defend ... democracy in two languages - good for America, and good for me."
The second mid, a senior, asked "Is affirmative action good or bad?"
Dr. Betances responded by telling how Clifford Alexander, an African American who served as Secretary of the Army under President Jimmy Carter, noticed that African Americans were not reaching flag ranks in the Army or Navy.
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"It is wrong to appoint people for the purpose of representation, but it is right to develop people's talents," Dr. Betances said in defense of affirmative action.
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