An organization of Black veterans is cautioning the Trump administration that its blanket efforts to rid the military of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts may erode Black recruitment during a time when services are struggling to meet their goals.
Speaking exclusively to The Hill, Kyle Bibby, co-CEO and co-founder of the Black Veterans Project, said the administration is being short-sighted with its anti-DEI mission. While Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has stressed the importance of a merit-based military, his Feb. 27 order of a “digital content refresh” may have backfired.
The order stated: “Components must remove and archive DoD news articles, photos, and videos promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), including content related to critical race theory, gender ideology, and identity-based programs.”
In March, the Department of Defense was forced to scramble and restore the more high-profile posts that were removed including those of baseball and civil rights legend Jackie Robinson. Bibby said the Pentagon’s walkback may not have be enough to undo the damage.
“There’s executive orders that actually do things, and then there’s executive orders that are made to send a message, and that message was very clear. Their intent is to try and resegregate as much of this society as possible that they think they can get away with. If they can’t do it through legal means, they’re going to try and do it by making Black people feel that we are unwelcome or unsafe in these spaces,” Bibby told the outlet.
“The president does not put forward an executive order like that, and then also have his Secretary of Defense strip all of this Black history from these websites without this being an aligned effort. These are not isolated things that are occurring in a vacuum,” he added.
Military recruitment numbers have told a complex story. In March, Military.com reported that while on paper the services are inching back toward their past recruitment goal, close to one-fourth of the soldiers recruited since 2022 have not completed their initial contracts.
On Thursday, the Pentagon announced efforts to reassess Hegseth’s order with the creation of a nine-member task force headed by Jules W. Hurst III, an Army veteran and current under secretary of defense of personal and readiness. The task force will evaluate the implementation of Hegseth’s order, which called for efforts to “eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and initiatives.”
“We come from a massive, diverse country; and because of that, we need to make sure that we’re creating a unit where people from all different walks of life can thrive, work together, and accomplish the mission,” Bibby said. “They have to take people from all walks of life and create a cohesive unit, and that means understanding how people are diverse and how to create an inclusive environment.”
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