That growth got here after pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members have been taken down — the Pentagon mentioned that was a mistake — amid the division’s marketing campaign to strip out content material singling out the contributions by ladies and minority teams, which the Trump administration considers “DEI.”
The web page on Robinson consists of biographical details about his Military service throughout World Conflict II, which occurred previous to his famously breaking baseball’s shade barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. When that web page’s handle was entered Wednesday, a message confirmed up saying it “might have been moved, renamed, or may be temporarily unavailable.” The letters “dei” have been additionally robotically added to the URL.
“We were surprised to learn that a page on the Department of Defense’s website featuring Jackie Robinson among sports heroes who served in the military was taken down,” mentioned David Robinson, son of Jackie Robinson and a board member of the Jackie Robinson Basis. “We take great pride in Jackie Robinson’s service to our country as a soldier and a sports hero, an icon whose courage, talent, strength of character and dedication contributed greatly to leveling the playing field not only in professional sports but throughout society.
“He worked tirelessly on behalf of equal opportunities, in education, business, civic engagement, and within the justice system. A recipient of both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, he of course is an American hero.”
Later Wednesday, the web page reappeared on the division’s web site, and the Pentagon launched an announcement.
“We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms,” press secretary John Ullyot mentioned. “In the rare cases that content is removed — either deliberately or by mistake — that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content so it recognizes our heroes for their dedicated service alongside their fellow Americans, period.”
The web page consists of an anecdote about Robinson refusing to maneuver to the again of an Military bus in 1944, prompting the driving force to name navy police. Robinson was court docket martialed however acquitted.
Hundreds of pages honoring contributions by ladies and minority teams have been taken down in efforts to delete materials selling range, fairness and inclusion, generally known as DEI. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended the follow at a briefing Monday.
A Protection Division webpage honoring Black Medal of Honor recipient Military Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers was taken down final week however was again on-line by Monday night time.
“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,” Ullyot mentioned. “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.”
Ullyot’s assertion referred to DEI as “Discriminatory Equity Ideology.”
“It is a form of woke cultural Marxism that Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services’ core warfighting mission,” he mentioned.
Initially Printed: March 19, 2025 at 2:36 PM EDT
