As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, the U.S. Naval Academy pulled nearly 400 books from its Nimitz Library earlier in April to avoid running afoul of an executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion in the federal government, but now, some critics warn the targeted book removal harkens back to an ugly chapter of American history.
According to ABC News, the list of titles removed from circulation includes books like “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “How To Be An Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi, “White Rage” by Carol Anderson and “Bodies In Doubt” by Elizabeth Reis.
The books have been removed in an effort to comply with Donald Trump’s executive order titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” issued in January which has since been extended to include military academies and includes phrases like “discriminatory equity ideology” and a reference to gender ideology as part of “the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies.”
Some, like Katherine Kuzminski, the Director of Studies at the Center for New American Security have issued criticism of the unclear criteria in the executive order itself, which has resulted in military leaders scrambling to comply with the executive orders through efforts like the military academies’ effective ban of the books.
“There isn’t any clear criteria,” Kuzminski told ABC News. “It leaves leadership scrambling — how do we ensure compliance without being accused of overcorrecting?”
She continued, referring to the Air Force’s initial decision to scrap training materials featuring the Tuskegee Airmen, which was later added back after outrage. “Particularly in the Air Force, when the Tuskegee Airmen learning module was removed from basic training for a few days, leadership was trying to follow through with the best of intentions.”
Leadership, she told the outlet, is governed by a strict code to comply with lawful orders, which puts them in the position of having to enforce a haphazard executive order that seems designed to appeal to the president’s rabid MAGA base and no one else.
Richard Kohn, a military historian and a former chief historian for the Air Force, went further in his critique, saying that the executive order is a “cleansing” and that “It reveals a certain kind of weakness in the current administration’s confidence. They’re determined to appeal to their MAGA constituency by rolling back decades of progress on race, religion, and diversity.”
Democratic Reps. Adam Smith and Chrissy Houlahan said in a letter sent to the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force on April 4 that the book removals constituted “a blatant attack on the First Amendment” and warned that they were “an alarming return to McCarthy-era censorship.”
In their letter to the Navy’s secretary, John Phelan, they demanded that he stop the review of the books immediately.
“To develop the next generation of Naval officers, the United States Naval Academy must remain committed to intellectual freedom by ensuring the Brigade of Midshipmen can access, explore, and express ideas freely without restriction or interference. Thus, we demand that you immediately cease the review and removal of books and materials at the United States Naval Academy,” they wrote.
The military academies have generally issued brief statements affirming their compliance with executive orders or no response at all when asked by ABC News to provide comment on the removal of the books.
U.S. Naval Academy spokesperson Cmdr. Tim Hawkins told the outlet that “nearly 400 books” were removed from circulation before issuing a boilerplate statement. “The Naval Academy’s mission,” Hawkins said, “is to develop Midshipmen morally, mentally and physically…to prepare them for careers of service to our country.”
Kohn, however, remained critical of the move from the Naval Academy.
“You can’t make ideas safe for people, but you can make people safe for ideas,” Kohn, a specialist in civil-military relations, told ABC News. “If you don’t mentor students in the academies to understand what’s going on in American society, you don’t really educate them.”
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