The Army has deleted a segment honoring Black soldiers from the Arlington National Cemetery website, including Medgar Evers among others.
Medgar Evers, the late civil rights activist who was slain by a white supremacist in 1963, was previously recognized by President Donald Trump as a hero of World War II. Now, Medgar Evers and several other Black veterans had their names deleted from an Arlington National Cemetery website section honoring Black soldiers by way of a Trump executive order that eliminated all DEI (diversity, equality, and inclusion) programs.
The Mississippi Today shared a report on Monday (March 17) making mention of the deletion of the Arlington National Cemetery website segment that highlighted the contributions of Black soldiers in the armed forces.
As the outlet notes, President Trump visited the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in 2017 where former state Supreme Court Justice Reuben Anderson led a tour of the facility. Trump provided glowing words for Evers and even praised his civil rights efforts along with mentioning his World War II contributions.
Anderson said of the deletion of Evers’ name, “That’s got to be a mistake. That involves a great American who served in the military and was one of the most courageous Americans of all time.”
The changes follow President Donald Trump’s executive orders against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government and directives from Pentagon officials who have ordered for photos, links and other pages that “promote” DEI to be scrubbed from Department of Defense sites and platforms.
The moves have impacted how histories of Hispanic American and women service members are seen. Some links can be found via search and alternative means despite not prominently being on the site, The Washington Post noted.
The biographies of notable Black, Hispanic and female veterans and their spouses are still accessible through other internal links, such as “U.S. Supreme Court” or “Prominent Military Figures.” But the categories “African American History,” “Hispanic American History” and “Women’s History” no longer appear prominently. Those landing pages can still be accessed via search or by copying and pasting the links into a search bar.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders on his first day in office banning DEI in federal programs and contracts. Since then, directives from Pentagon leaders have ordered the removal of all news and feature articles, photos and videos that they say “promote” DEI.
SOURCE: HIPHOPWIRED.COM, Huffington Post.com and Washington Post.com
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