Source: Afro Newspaper/Gado / Getty
Jackie Robinson was a lot more than a civil rights icon and baseball legend; he was an American citizen who believed in making sacrifices to fight enemies both domestically and abroad. It is well documented that Robinson was the first African-American to stand at home plate for an at-bat in a Major League Baseball professional baseball game. What’s talked about less is Robinson’s military career where he trained as an officer, was assigned to a tank regiment, and rose to earn the rank of Second Lieutenant. Even while in service to a country that would rather see him hanging from a tree than to thank him for his service, Robinson still stood ten toes down for Black civil rights (he was once under court martial for refusing to sit in the back of a bus at Fort Hood in Texas.)
Source: Sports Studio Photos / Getty
According to NBC News, that legacy was erased from the Department of Defense website in accordance with Donald Trump’s racist and unnecessary anti-DEI crusade. The Pentagon site and all associated social media pages were scrubbed of all mentions of diversity, equity, and inclusion, whether they be photos, videos, or news articles.
Says Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot:
“Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services’ core warfighting mission. We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms.
Conservative clowns using the word “woke” will never not be cringe to the point of potentially breaking teeth.
Source: Bettmann / Getty
David Robinson, Jackie’s son, released a statement expressing his surprise that the DoD would disrespect his father in this way.
“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,” said Robinson, who is a Jackie Robinson Foundation board member. “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.”
The Pentagon doubled back in its attempt to clean up its spill on aisle 6, as noted by an ESPN article that states press secretary Ullyot’s “updated” statement at 2:46 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.
“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.”
By 3:09pm, the Jackie Robinson information was restored in their original formats. “Mistake,” huh? Sure, Jan.
The post Erasure: Jackie Robinson’s Army History ‘Mistakenly’ Removed From Dept. Of Defense Website Over Trump’s Anti-DEI Crusade appeared first on Bossip.
