by Daniel Johnson
January 27, 2025
Britt, a Republican, seemed to be taken aback as she reminded the public that Trump previously celebrated the Tuskegee Airmen during his first term in office and demanded that their history continue to be taught by the Air Force
After reports indicated that the United States Air Force planned to pull teaching videos featuring the first Black airmen in the United States militarythe Tuskegee Airmen, the Air Force conducted a review and decided to reinstate instructing trainees using the videos.
According to Reuters, on Jan. 25, videos about the Tuskegee Airmen, as well as another video, featuring civilian women pilots trained during World War II, were not being shown at the Air Force’s basic training base at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland pending a review.
The decision by the Air Force was met with disagreement, and Alabama Sen. Katie Boyd Britt said on social media that the Air Force’s decision was “malicious compliance” with the diversity, equity and inclusion review prompted by Donald Trump’s ban on DEI in the United States government and military.
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 during his first term, promoting legendary aviator Charles McGee to Brigadier General and pinning…
– Senator Katie Boyd Britt (@skatatiebritt) January 26, 2025
The Tuskegee Airmen bravely fought and died for our freedoms before this nation even granted them the full benefits of citizenship. 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! pic.twitter.com/cVOeXYoubK
— Rep. Terri A. Sewell (@RepTerriSewell) January 25, 2025
The Air Force can no longer talk about the Tuskegee Airmen.
DHS had to cancel any discussion of Martin Luther King Jr. to commemorate MLK Day.
This isn’t an attempt to stop “DEI”. This is an effort by Trump to remove black people from our history.https://t.co/t3K533ZRxQ
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 26, 2025
President Donald Trump’s assault on federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives has claimed a new victim — the Tuskegee Airmen.
The effects were felt almost immediately at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, the hub of Air Force basic training. https://t.co/QZrTzPqMzZ pic.twitter.com/MZ26tGgSf9
— San Antonio Express-News (@ExpressNews) January 25, 2025
Britt, a Republican, seemed to be taken aback as she reminded the public that Trump previously celebrated the Tuskegee Airmen during his first term in office and demanded that their history continue to be taught by the Air Force.
“President Trump celebrated and honored the Tuskegee Airmen during his first term, promoting legendary aviator Charles McGee to Brigadier General and pinning his stars in the Oval Office. In his second term, the Trump Administration will continue to deeply respect and elevate the Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy. Their history and their lessons will continue to be taught—because their legacy is one of excellence, of success, and of unquestionable merit,” Britt wrote.
According to CBS News, on January 26, Lieutenant General Brian Robinson, the leader of the Air Education and Training Command, indicated in a statement that their revision resulted in one group of Airmen’s training using the videos to be delayed.
“No Airmen or Guardians will miss this block of instruction due to the revision. However one group of trainees had the training delayed,” Robinson said.
He continued, echoing the newly minted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s call for a return to a warrior ethos.
“The revised training, which focuses on 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,” Robinson said. “The Air Force has not removed these Airmen’s incredible heritage from any training. 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.”
The Tuskegee Airmen are often and correctly credited with influencing President Harry Truman to direct the United States military to desegregate in 1948 through the use of Executive Order 9981, but what is perhaps less well known is their participation in non-violent agitation to secure those rights.
According to History, a group of 104 Black officers, led by Detroit’s future first Black mayor, Coleman A. Young, protested the whites-only officers club of the Air Force by integrating itdisobeying Jim Crow in the process.
According to Roger “Bill” Terry, who was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 1995, the actions of the 477th Bombardment Group were instrumental in informing the tactics of the Civil Rights movement which came into being post-World War II.
“We think that it broke the camel’s back because they had to recognize the fact that 104 officers were arrested and that they all defied this order, and the order was said to be illegal,” Terry said in an interview for the National Park’s Tuskegee Airmen Oral History Project. “We feel—and I think I speak for most of the guys—that it was our advantage that we gave to the Negro people, that there would be no discrimination in the Army Air Force from that time on—at least officially.”
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