The Defense Department removed then restored a web page detailing the military service of baseball Hall of Famer and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson after a broad elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion content following President Donald Trump's executive order ending such initiatives, CBS reported.
The Robinson moves followed an Axios review that found multiple military websites had deleted pages about soldiers of color, including American Indian code talkers and Mexican American Medal of Honor recipients.
The purge comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared, "DEI is dead."
The URL for a story on Robinson in the Defense Department's "Sports Heroes Who Served" series was restored Wednesday. The article highlights Robinson's time in the Army during World War II before he famously broke Major League Baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. The webpage recounted an incident in 1944 when Robinson was arrested for refusing to move to the back of an Army bus.
"On July 6, 1944, Robinson boarded an Army bus. The driver ordered Robinson to move to the back of the bus, but Robinson refused," the article stated. "The driver called the military police, who took Robinson into custody. He was subsequently court-martialed, but he was acquitted."
Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot defended the removals, calling DEI "a form of woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military."
"As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department," Ullyot told Axios. "It divides the force, erodes unit cohesion, and interferes with the services' core warfighting mission."
Ullyot added that the Pentagon was pleased with the "rapid compliance" across the department and stated that any removals made in error would be corrected.
Civil rights advocates argue the removal is an attempt to erase history rather than an effort to strengthen the military.
"This isn't history being forgotten; it's history being erased!" civil rights attorney Ben Crump posted on Instagram.
Robinson's legacy extends far beyond baseball. After enduring racism on and off the field, he became a civil rights activist and was a friend of Martin Luther King Jr.
While he initially supported Republican candidates, he supported John F. Kennedy in 1960.
Robinson died in 1972 at age 53.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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