WASHINGTON (AP) โ References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press. The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for DEI content. The official said itโs not clear if the database has been finalized.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the military until Wednesday to remove content that highlights diversity efforts in its ranks following President Donald Trumpโs executive order ending those programs across the federal government. The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military. And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months โ such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women. But a review of the database also underscores the confusion that has swirled among agencies about what to remove following Trumpโs order.
In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word โgay,โ including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. Several photos of an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in California were marked for deletion, apparently because a local engineer in the photo had the last name Gay. And a photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish โ including their weight, size, hatchery and gender.
In addition, some photos of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nationโsย first Black military pilots who served in a segregated WWII unit, were listed on the database, but those may likely be protected due to historical content. The Air Force briefly removed new recruit training courses that included videos of the Tuskegee Airmen soon afterย Trumpโs order. That drew the White Houseโs ire over โmalicious compliance,โ and the Air Force quickly reversed the removal.
Many of the images listed in the database already have been removed. Others were still visible Thursday, and itโs not clear if they will be taken down at some point or be allowed to stay, including images with historical significance such as those of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Asked about the database, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement, โWe are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.โ He noted that Hegseth has declared that โDEI is deadโ and that efforts to put one group ahead of another through DEI programs erodes camaraderie and threatens mission execution.
Comment: Yes, DEI is dead and will soon be forgotten, just like Yehzov. Surely the innocent victims of this anti-DEI exuberance, like the Enola Gay or the Tuskegee Airmen will soon be given justice. That’s just crazy, but it does show the extent of the fear being instilled across the DoD and elsewhere in our government. Lord help you if you do not cheer enthusiastically enough for the new order. You might end up like Yehzov.
TTG
“He was a Minnesota native, a pilot who escorted bombers in World War II, and a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots.
When asked why he wanted to serve, even though he was treated as a second-class citizen, he said he wanted to be very direct.
“This is my country, too,” said Brown, who died in 2023. ”
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/history/thousands-pictures-including-first-black-military-pilots-flagged-removal/89-c25830c3-6517-49fc-ad84-4ee6878ba135
al,
In 2020 Trump promoted Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee to Brigadier. Pelosi ripped up his SOTU speech. Take your fake tears elsewhere.
TTG, Did you forget that too? How about Affirmative Action discrimination based on race? Escaped your notice during your decades of service in an elite organization that didn’t do that?
Fred,
And yet Hegseth is pushing a purge with such vigor that the Tuskegee Airmen get caught up in the net along with the Enola Gay. I’m sure they’ll catch and correct such absurdities, but the whole idea of disappearing history is both asinine and vile. It’s like the UDC trying to disappear the horrors of slavery in the US. It happened. Own it and move on. The same goes for past DEI events like Black history Month or Asian American – Pacific Islander Heritage Month. They happened. Own it and move on. Current policy is that those types of things and many others will not happen in the future. THat’s the way our world works.
Funny how Affirmative Action discrimination changes over time in the military. During jump school in 1973, the black hat instructors were heavily black. At the time the 82nd Airborne was also known as the African Airborne. My late 70s infantry and weapons platoons were majority Black and Hispanic. Flash forward to my days in the 10th SFG(A). The group was almost all white. My team had a black team sergeant for a while. As we planned our wartime mission in Poland, we all came to the conclusion that a black man in wartime Poland would jeopardize our mission. We briefed this to the Group Commander who could find no flaw in our reasoning or warplans. Teams in groups with missions in Sub-Saharan Africa are where a lot of black SFers are assigned, usually by pragmatic choice.
The AP is having an hysterical meltdown or just lying and making mountain out of mole hills (probably written by some DEI hire and woke activist). No one is erasing the Tuskegee airmen from history. Nor is anyone removing the Anola Gay from books or documentaries or anything else. That is all complete BS; hysterical BS.
I never realized just how susceptible you people are to ridiculous propaganda. I was going to write that it is concerning, but it’s downright frightening, actually.
The hysterics among us have apparently forgotten when Trump promoted a Tuskegee flyer to Brigadier General – https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2074911/tuskegee-airman-receives-promotion-to-brigadier-general/
The big lie here is conflating all blacks with DEI, which is racist, which is what the left is because they can’t get past seeing people as categories, as opposed to individuals. The Tuskegee airmen were not DEI. They *earned* what they achieved the old fashioned way. DEI is handing positions to people who wouldn’t normally qualify, just because they are some special class identified by progressives as “oppressed”.
But yeah, trot out some anonymous sources who allegedly say scary stuff and then all the TDS dopes repeat it as truth because they’re so brainwashed they are predisposed to ingesting nonsense that confirms their masters’ world view.
Eric Newhill,
The article is based on the DoD directive to remove DEI material that is available online and the database of items to be removed which was also available. The instruction was poorly written and did not exclude historical material. You’re right. The Tuskegee Airmen were not DEI. Both the AP article and I pointed out the absurdity of having them considered for removal. Articles about how units celebrated Black History Month twenty years ago shouldn’t worry Hegseth or Trump, but the directive seems to want them removed. Talk about a derangement syndrome.