{"id":573,"date":"2025-04-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/?p=573"},"modified":"2025-04-07T11:33:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T11:33:37","slug":"black-veterans-sound-the-alarm-over-military-dei-purge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/05\/black-veterans-sound-the-alarm-over-military-dei-purge\/","title":{"rendered":"Black veterans sound the alarm over military DEI purge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Black veterans are warning that the Trump administration’s effort to purge the Defense Department of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) content is sending a negative message that could impact recruitment efforts.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has faced backlash in recent weeks after efforts to comply with President Trump\u2019s executive order banning DEI in the military resulted in the removal of webpages dedicated to Jackie Robinson;\u00a0Colin Powell;\u00a0Army Maj. Gen. Charles C. Rogers, a Black recipient of the Medal of Honor; the Navajo Code Talkers and Japanese Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though the military later restored the pages and said the removals were a mistake, veterans like Kyle Bibby said there is a message being sent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s executive orders that actually do things, and then there’s executive orders that are made to send a message, and that message was very clear. Their intent is to try and resegregate as much of this society as possible that they think they can get away with. If they can’t do it through legal means, they’re going to try and do it by making Black people feel that we are unwelcome or unsafe in these spaces,\u201d Bibby, co-CEO and co-founder of the Black Veterans Project, told The Hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President does not put forward an executive order like that, and then also have his Secretary of Defense strip all of this Black history from these websites without this being an aligned effort. These are not isolated things that are occurring in a vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bibby added that the idea of DEI is not new to the military, but it wasn\u2019t always known as DEI. Rather,\u00a0it was\u00a0equal opportunity. Learning about other service members’ history and culture was also a natural occurrence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come from a massive, diverse country and because of that, we need to make sure that we’re creating a unit where people from all different walks of life can thrive, work together and accomplish the mission,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have to take people from all walks of life and create a cohesive unit, and that means understanding how people are diverse and how to create an inclusive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2023 survey by Syracuse University found that there are more than 350,000 active duty Black Americans and more than 2.4 million Black veterans. The majority of the survey’s respondents reported having a good experience in the military, and more than half said that they considered encountering racial discrimination in making their decision to enlist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump has made it a top goal of his second term to eliminate DEI across all federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his January executive order, Trump said he is “committed to meritocracy and to the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination within the Armed Forces of the United States. No individual or group within our Armed Forces should be preferred or disadvantaged on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or creed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The order also instructed the military to refrain from teaching that America\u2019s founding documents are racist or sexist and about gender ideology.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump defended his military DEI purge as a way to ensure \u201cunit cohesion.\u201d But some have expressed concerns over the use of this phrase, which has historically been used to justify segregation as well as deterring LGBTQ and women from enlisting.<\/p>\n

The Defense Department buckled down on its goals to continue purging DEI material<\/a> even after the webpages were removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Secretary Hegseth\u00a0has said<\/a>, DEI is dead at the Defense Department,\u201d Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot said in a statement. \u201c\u201cDiscriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services\u2019 core warfighting mission. We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the\u00a0directive<\/a>\u00a0removing DEI content from all platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just this week, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., removed nearly 400 books<\/a> that allegedly promote DEI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When reached for comment, the Pentagon referred The Hill to chief spokesman Sean Parnell\u2019s March video.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the video, he\u00a0states that the Pentagon has taken action to identify and archive DEI content from websites and social media platforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe previous administration’s zealous and destructive commitment to DEI not only divided our nation and weakened our force, but it also reduced our country’s finest to their immutable characteristics,\u201d Parnell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout question, this task was an arduous but incredibly important undertaking. We enforced an aggressive timeline for our DOD services and agencies to comb through a vast array of content while ensuring that our force remains ready and lethal.\u201d<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that some content was \u201cincorrectly pulled offline\u201d and added that \u201chistory is not DEI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so proud of our nation’s heroes and our heritage. We honor the accomplishments of our war fighters and the content of their character. Americans past and present are the greatest people the world has ever known, and we live in the greatest country the world has ever known, and our strength now and has always been our unity and shared purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) told The Hill he found it difficult to accept the administration\u2019s explanation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c’Sorry’ is meaningful when you don’t have the intention of it happening again,\u201d said Moore,\u00a0a veteran. \u201cAnd the problem is, this keeps on happening. It\u2019s much more difficult to give people grace when you understand that there is an intentionality that’s happening around all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Moore, highlighting the contributions of Black veterans is a critical recruitment tool.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moore, who was deployed to Afghanistan, enlisted after being inspired by former Secretary of State Colin Powell. If Powell,\u00a0a chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,\u00a0could succeed in the military, then so could he.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u00a0said he\u00a0worries now that erasing the history of those like Powell \u2014 even accidentally \u2014 could deter others from seeing the military as a viable option.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw this son of Jamaica immigrants, who went to school in the Bronx, who now led our coalition forces into an overwhelming wind and Operation Desert Storm, and was a national hero, four-star general, national security adviser. And I looked at Colin Powell, and I saw myself,\u201d Moore told The Hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m a very proud combat veteran. I don’t know if that part of my history would have been real had it not been for understanding the history of Colin Powell. And so I do think there is a danger of wiping away the relevancy of people who for many young men and women who are looking to find their own personal way, that they should be able to look up and say, I see myself in a way that I looked up and saw Colin Powell and I saw a vision for what my life could be.”<\/p>\n

For Moore, it seems the administration is erasing histories in an effort to minimize the sacrifices Black and brown veterans made.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re talking about banning the history of people like Jackie Robinson and the Tuskegee Airmen, people who were fighting for a country because they loved their country in many ways more than their country loved them back,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI don’t think their history should be minimized. I think one of the most empowering things that we can do is actually celebrate not just what they sacrificed, but why they were willing to sacrifice in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bibby said such\u00a0efforts to limit information around non-white veterans are particularly concerning because many Americans are unaware of the sacrifices Black and brown soldiers have made in the military.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Black people, we have a very keen understanding of what our history is in the military,\u201d he said. \u201cSo stripping that history from the websites is not for us, the stripping of the websites, I believe, is \u2026 to ensure that people who don’t know the history of Black veterans don’t get to know the history. They don’t get to know the sort of contributions that Black people have made to this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-Ga.) told The Hill that the stories of Black veterans \u201cspeak to the American spirit \u2013 love of country, overcoming adversity, and even discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur history, even its blemishes which are like scars from battle, make us who we are,\u201d Bishop, who served in the army between 1969 and 1971, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHiding our history does not change it but recognizing it is the foundation for overcoming our differences so that we can come together even stronger. We know that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, but hiding this history also means missing out on stories that inspire future generations to take the oath, wear the uniform, serve and even sacrifice themselves for all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black veterans are warning that the Trump administration’s effort to purge the Defense Department of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) content is sending a negative message that could impact recruitment efforts. The Pentagon has faced backlash in recent weeks after efforts to comply with President Trump\u2019s executive order banning DEI in the military resulted in the removal of webpages dedicated to Jackie Robinson;\u00a0Colin Powell;\u00a0Army Maj. Gen. Charles C. Rogers,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions\/574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}