NATIONAL NEWS – Pentagon website restores pages about Black veterans after public outrage

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

The Pentagon has edited its website again to include the stories of black veterans such as Jackie Robinson alongside the Tuskegee airmen and Vietnam-era Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers. Two officials from the Defense department spoke anonymously saying that the pages were initially taken down as part of a review of thousands of stories, photos, and videos that were meant to remove DEI material to comply with Trump’s executive order.

Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot issued a statement saying, “Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others — we salute them for their strong, and in many cases, heroic service to our country, full stop. We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex. We do so only by recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like every other American who has worn the uniform.”

Many have said that the review conducted by the Pentagon was too hasty, and that they only searched for keywords. This led to various pages being flagged with words like gender or gay. This system flagged images of the Enola Gay, which was the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan during WWII.