Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Sunday said the removal of Tuskegee Airmen videos and curriculum about the Tuskegee Airmen from its military instruction curriculum “has been immediately reversed.”
Hegesth posted the comment in response to concerns from U.S. Sen. Katie Britt about “malicious compliance we’ve seen in recent days.”
“We’re all over it Senator. This will not stand,” Hegseth posted in response to Britt’s social media comments. “This will not stand.”
“I have no doubt Secretary Hegseth will correct and get to the bottom of the malicious compliance we’ve seen in recent days. President Trump celebrated and honored the Tuskegee Airmen,” Britt posted.
“These role models will continue to inspire the next generation of courageous, selfless American servicemembers,” Britt posted.
U.S. Air Force reportedly reversed course Sunday on its decision to remove the videos following President Donald Trump’s executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the federal government.
The videos “would be restored to the basic training curriculum for new recruits beginning Monday,” the San Antonio Express-News reported.
“The documented historic legacy and decorated valor with which these units and Airmen fought for our nation in World War II and beyond will continue on 27 January,” Lt. Gen. Brian S. Robinson, head of the San Antonio-based Air Education and Training Command, said in a statement.
”Their personal examples of service, sacrifice and combat effectiveness are illustrative of the core values, character and warrior ethos necessary to be an Airman and Guardian,” Robinson added. “No Airmen or Guardians will miss this block of instruction due to the revision.”
The removal was first reported by the Express-News.
All of the nearly 1,000 Black military pilots who trained in the U.S. during World War II did so in Tuskegee, a city of about 8,700 residents today that is 87% Black.
“Some walls are inside your head. Some are inside the minds of others,” the narrator of one of the removed videos, entitled “Breaking Barriers,” says. “Intolerance. Ignorance. Oppression.”
The decision sparked outrage from officials.
U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, called the removal of the video as “pathetic, disgraceful and disrespectful.”
“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. I’m calling on the Air Force to immediately reverse this decision,” said U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham.
The Tuskegee Airmen story wasn’t the only video to be removed by the Air Force. Also removed was a video about the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs – the female World War II pilots who were vital in ferrying warplanes for the military. Both videos could be restored as soon as Monday, according to an official.
AL.com reporter John Sharp contributed to this report.
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