Nationwide — President Donald Trump’s administration has quietly eliminated content material about Black, Hispanic, and ladies veterans from the Arlington Nationwide Cemetery web site. The deleted pages additionally included data on the Civil Battle and Black historical past, aligning with Trump’s anti-diversity insurance policies.
Webpages that includes graves of notable minority veterans and academic sources on African American and ladies’s historical past had been both deleted or moved to classes that not point out race or gender. An archived web page highlighting Black conflict heroes and the Civil Rights Motion has since been eliminated.
In line with MSNBC, a cemetery spokesperson confirmed that these pages had been eliminated to adjust to administration insurance policies. Civil Battle historian Kevin M. Levin and navy information outlet Activity & Goal first reported the elimination.
The modifications are a part of Trump’s bigger effort to dismantle range, fairness, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, a identified critic of DEI, has led efforts to eradicate what he calls ‘wokeness’ within the navy. A number of high-ranking officers have since been faraway from workplace or pressured to retire, together with US Army Lieutenant General Telita Crosland, who beforehand led the navy’s well being company.
Consistent with these efforts, the Protection Intelligence Company has additionally banned events associated to cultural heritage celebrations, together with Black Historical past Month, LGBTQ Delight Month, and Girls’s Historical past Month.