Military ordered to remove library books focusing on racial harmony, anti-discrimination, and gender matters, per Pentagon's instructions.
STREET SMASH: WAKE UP SOLDIER, THE DIVERSITY BOOK PURGE HAS BEGUN!
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
WARNING: This article discusses sensitive and controversial topics related to diversity, equality, and military policies.
IN YOUR FACE! HERE'S THE DEAL: The Pentagon is pulling a half-nelson on all military libraries, demanding that they toss out any books, training materials, or educational resources focusing on diversity, anti-racism, or gender issues by May 21, as per a missive signed by Timothy Dill, who's currently filling in as the defense undersecretary for personnel.
YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT, GRANDPA! This directive slams the legitimacy of books promoting "divisive concepts and gender ideology," labels 'em as unfit for the military mission, and dictates that base libraries must give those books the cold shoulder before the end of the month.
WHAT'S THE PLAN? By the schedule, the military libraries will lay their cards on the table and reveal the books they think are incompatible with the Pentagon's core mission by May 21. After that, they'll get further instructions on how to whittle down the list and decide what stays and what goes. No word yet on whether those tossed books are going in the wastebasket or eternal storage.
IT AIN'T OVER YET! A temporary Academic Libraries Committee set up by the department will spoon-feed the details on the book review and decisions about the books. The committee provided search terms to help identify the books to be purged, including uber-sensitive keywords like affirmative action, anti-racism, critical race theory, discrimination, gender identity, and transgender.
THE NAVY WAS FIRST, BABY! Earlier last month, the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland tossed about 400 books featuring subject matter on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This move, motivated by none other than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's orders, led to the removal of several books on the Holocaust, feminism, civil rights, and even Maya Angelou's famous autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."
POPEYE'S PAL MICKEY? NO WAY! Other tossed books include "Memorializing the Holocaust," "Half American" (about African Americans in World War II), "A Respectable Woman" (about the public roles of African American women in 19th century New York), and "Pursuing Trayvon Martin" (about the 2012 shooting of a Black 17-year-old boy in Florida that questioned racial profiling).
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In the realm of education, the Pentagon has declared a policy against books focusing on diversity, anti-racism, and gender issues, deeming them incompatible with the military's mission.* This directive, signed by Timothy Dill, the defense undersecretary for personnel, labels such books as promoting "divisive concepts" and "gender ideology," and demands they be removed from military libraries by May 21.* The move echoes an earlier decision by the U.S. Naval Academy, which removed about 400 books on diversity, equity, and inclusion, including works on the Holocaust, feminism, civil rights, and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."* The Pentagon, through a temporary Academic Libraries Committee, has provided search terms to identify the books to be purged, including terms like affirmative action, critical race theory, discrimination, gender identity, and transgender.* This directive comes amidst a broader political context, with discussions around racial profiling (as in the book "Pursuing Trayvon Martin") and the 2021 book bans in Idaho and Arizona.* The impact of such actions on general news, particularly crime and justice, as well as policy-and-legislation and general political discourse, remains to be seen.
