An article highlighting the U.S. Army profession of baseball legend Jackie Robinson has been restored to the Department of Defense web site. Its removal had appeared to be associated to the Trump administration’s stance in opposition to variety, fairness and inclusion.
Robinson, the Corridor of Famer who broke baseball’s coloration barrier when he began at first base for the Dodgers in 1947, was drafted into the Army in 1942 and served till 1944, attaining the rank of second lieutenant.
The article is one in every of at the least 50 items that seem on the division’s site as a part of a collection titled “Sports activities Heroes Who Served.” Written by David Vergun of DOD Information and initially revealed on Feb. 9, 2021, the article not too long ago disappeared from the web site. The web page displayed an error message, and the URL had been altered to embrace “DEI.”
Robinson’s son, David, who serves as a board member of his father’s basis, issued a press release expressing shock.
“We take nice satisfaction in Jackie Robinson’s service to our nation as a soldier and a sports activities hero, an icon whose braveness, expertise, energy of character and dedication contributed significantly to leveling the taking part in area not solely in skilled sports activities however all through society,” David Robinson stated. “He, in fact, is an American hero.”
The article was returned to the division’s web site beneath its unique URL on Tuesday.
As well as to highlighting lots of Robinson’s athletic achievements, the article particulars the trailblazer’s navy profession — together with an incident in which he refused an Army bus driver’s order to transfer to the again. Consequently Robinson was court-martialed however later acquitted, then served as a coach for Army athletics till receiving an honorable discharge.
President Trump has issued govt orders in an effort to finish the federal authorities’s help for DEI packages. U.S. District Decide Adam Abelson in Baltimore blocked the orders, however final week a three-judge panel on the U.S. 4th Circuit Court docket of Appeals dominated that the orders could be enforced.
A Feb. 27 Defense Department memo mandated that “by March 5, 2025, all Elements should take away and archive DoD information articles, pictures, and movies selling Range, Fairness, and Inclusion.” Since then 1000’s of pages have been eliminated. A division official informed ABC Information that the Robinson article was one in every of a number of gadgets that had been “mistakenly eliminated.”
A picture of baseball nice Jackie Robinson hangs close to Petco Park in San Diego on Aug. 26, 2020.
(Gregory Bull / Related Press)
In response to questions from The Instances, the Pentagon emailed a press release from the Defense Department press secretary John Ullyot:
“Everybody on the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, in addition to the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee airmen, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others,” Ullyot said. “We salute them for his or her robust and in many circumstances heroic service to our nation, full cease. We don’t view or spotlight them via the prism of immutable traits, equivalent to race, ethnicity, or intercourse. We accomplish that solely by recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like [every] different American who has worn the uniform.
“DEI — Discriminatory Fairness Ideology does the other. It’s a type of Woke cultural Marxism that Divides the drive, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the companies’ core warfighting mission.
“We’re happy by the speedy compliance throughout the Department with the directive eradicating DEI content material from all platforms. Within the uncommon circumstances that content material is eliminated — both intentionally or by mistake — that’s out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the parts they usually appropriate the content material so it acknowledges our heroes for his or her devoted service alongside their fellow People, interval.”
On Tuesday morning — earlier than the Robinson article was restored — a seek for “Jackie Robinson” on the division’s web site introduced up an article on Robinson’s Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese, from the “Sports activities Heroes Who Served” collection. That article mentions Reese’s gesture of placing his arm round his Black teammate in an effort to quiet a booing Cincinnati crowd in 1947.
Additionally whereas Robinson’s article was lacking, a number of others from the “Sports activities Heroes Who Served” collection that spotlight Black athletes — together with the NBA’s David Robinson (not Jackie’s son), MLB’s Rod Carew and Olympic gold medalist hurdler Willie Davenport — remained on the site.
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