Article on Jackie Robinson's military career restored to defense department website
Source: The Guardian
Wed 19 Mar 2025 16.21 EDT
First published on Wed 19 Mar 2025 08.26 EDT
An article detailing Jackie Robinson’s military career has been restored to the Department of Defense’s website amid a purge of material considered to be related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Robinson, who Donald Trump last month described as helping “drive our country forward to greatness”, is widely considered a national hero in the US. He broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947 when he suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers; he went on to be elected to his sport’s Hall of Fame. Robinson also served in the US Army during the second world war. However, on Tuesday night ESPN’S Jeff Passan noted a page detailing Robinson’s army career had been taken down and “dei” added to the URL.
On Wednesday, the page had been restored. Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot said that “everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson”. He added that the defense department regularly checks for material than may have been removed in error.
The initial removal was in step with similar decisions in recent weeks as the Pentagon works on the removal of any webpage it considers to be representative of DEI programs. The Trump administration has made its distaste for DEI clear and has rolled back many DEI programs across the federal government. One Trump executive order sought to end all “mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities in the federal government” related to “illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility’ (DEIA) programs”.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/mar/19/jackie-robinson-article-removed-department-defense
It WAS intentional. When you have an ass say this -
then he better heed what former Congressman Charlie Rangel (a Korean War vet) kept pushing for (facetiously) -
Wednesday, January 8, 2003 Posted: 4:28 AM EST (0928 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Charles Rangel introduced a bill in Congress Tuesday to reinstate the military draft, saying fighting forces should more closely reflect the economic makeup of the nation.
The New York Democrat told reporters his goal is two-fold: to jolt Americans into realizing the import of a possible unilateral strike against Iraq, which he opposes, and "to make it clear that if there were a war, there would be more equitable representation of people making sacrifices."
"I truly believe that those who make the decision and those who support the United States going into war would feel more readily the pain that's involved, the sacrifice that's involved, if they thought that the fighting force would include the affluent and those who historically have avoided this great responsibility," Rangel said.
"Those who love this country have a patriotic obligation to defend this country," Rangel said. "For those who say the poor fight better, I say give the rich a chance." According to Rangel's office, minorities comprise more than 30 percent of the nation's military.
(snip)
The last one before he retired in 2016 after 44 years in Congress was this -
H.R.1509 - To amend the Military Selective Service Act to require the reinstatement of the draft whenever an authorization on the [use of military force or declaration of war is in effect and to provide for the registration of women with the Selective Service System, and for other purposes.
In this case, they can add to the recruitment - "coloreds and women need not apply".
= new reply since forum marked as read
with a clip from Jackie Robinson's grandson, who expressed "shock" that something like this would happen.
With what we have seen the past 2 months, NO ONE should express "shock" (with some insisting that they don't respond to "hair on fire" reports) because we ARE in a "hair on fire" moment. 
Which is turning into a several times a day occurrence - pretty much whenever I turn on the news. 