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The U.S. Department of Defense, and newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were scrambling Sunday to undo the removal of a Tuskegee Airmen video from Air Force training seminars.
The video of the legendary Black Air Force pilots was removed in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order eliminating all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government. Outrage over the removal has been swift and strong.
Alabama Reps. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures called Saturday for the immediate reinstatement of the video and the associated lesson on the Tuskegee Airmen’s accomplishments. Figures called the removal “pathetic, disgraceful, and disrespectful, not only to the brave fighter pilots who saved the U.S. in World War II, but to the City of Tuskegee and the entire State of Alabama.
“It is a slap in the face of the heroic Black men who risked and gave their lives on the front lines in defense of a country that still made them sit in the back of the bus when they returned home.”
Sewell said it was an affront to the entire country.
“To strip them from the Air Force curriculum is an outrageous betrayal of our values as Americans. Their heroism is not ‘DEI.’ It is American history,” she said.
On Sunday, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt joined them in calling for the lesson to be reinstated, but called its removal “malicious compliance,” presumably on the part of the Air Force.
The video and lesson, however, were part of the Air Force’s DEI training program, which sought to educate current servicemen and women about the contributions of all people to the Air Force.
Britt’s social media statement on the issue drew a response from Hegseth, who said the DOD is “all over it.” He went on to say that the decision “… will not stand,” and that would be immediately reversed.
By Sunday afternoon, the Air Force released a statement to the San Antonio Express News, which originally reported the story of the video’s removal, stating that the video would be added to the Air Force’s new recruit training program on Monday.
