Obeying Trump order, Air Force will stop teaching recruits about Tuskegee Airmen
President Donald Trump’s assault on federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives has claimed a new victim – the Tuskegee Airmen.
A video describing the exploits of the groundbreaking African American airmen, who flew combat sorties during World War II, has been removed from the instructional curriculum for new recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, the hub of Air Force basic training.
Trump, in his inaugural address on Monday, vowed to "end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life." The same day, he signed an executive order dismantling federal DEI programs. On Tuesday, the new administration placed DEI officials on leave and ordered agencies to spike postings or advertisements promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
The effects were felt almost immediately at Lackland. A memo circulated among Air Force personnel said that "in accordance with NEW DEIA Guidance," portions of the basic training curriculum were being revised "immediately." DEIA stands for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.
The memo said a video on the Tuskegee Airmen, a second video titled "Breaking Barriers" and a third about the Women Airforce Service Pilots who supported the war effort during World War II had been excised from a course on "airmindedness."
A video on diversity was stripped from a separate human relations course, the memo said. It was addressed to "ALCON," military jargon for "all concerned."
The 37th Training Wing, which oversees basic and technical instruction at Lackland, had no comment.
An Air Force official, who asked not to be identified, told the San Antonio Express-News by email: “We are ensuring we implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the President and are currently doing a thorough review of all applicable curriculum. We will provide status updates on curriculum changes as soon as we are able.”
The official referred the Express-News to a memo issued Wednesday by an acting assistant secretary of the Air Force. It directed all Air Force commands and units to delete references to DEI from their websites and social media accounts and “cancel any DEIA-related training and terminate any DEIA-related contract.”
Every year, more than 35,000 recruits go through Air Force basic training at Lackland. For years, the 7½-week regimen of weapons training, calisthenics and classroom learning has included instruction on the Tuskegee Airman and how the pioneering Black pilots played a vital role in the Allied war effort.
Well before World War II, the nation’s troops had been racially segregated, in part because of an Army War College report that wrote off the role Blacks could play as aviators, saying they lacked the courage and fortitude to fly planes. African Americans were relegated to noncombat jobs, even in the war zone.
The all-Black 332nd Fighter Group, based at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, shattered the race barrier. The unit had as many as 14,000 airmen 1,000 of them pilots. In the skies over war-torn Europe, they flew 15,533 sorties, racking up 112 aerial kills and earning 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Presidential Unit Citations.
As the decades passed, their legend grew as books, news media attention and a Hollywood movie brought their exploits into America’s consciousness.
Some in their ranks went far in the armed services. Brig. Gen. Charles McGee lived through three wars and lived to see his 102d birthday. He marked the occasion by visiting Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph in late 2021, where he received the red carpet treatment and was celebrated as a hero,
McGee was given a tour of a squadron and its planes and was treated to a simulator flight in the T-1A Jayhawk, a training aircraft. McGee spoke in a briefing room adorned with portraits of his onetime boss,
Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who became the Air Force’s first Black one-star general. Another Tuskegee Airman,
Daniel “Chappie” James, was the first Black officer to reach the rank of four-star general.
His son,
Lt. Gen. Daniel James III, would serve as commander of the Air National Guard and adjutant general of the Texas National Guard.
Racial barriers continued to fall over the ensuing decades. Gen. C.Q. Brown, a San Antonio native, became the first African American to lead the Air Force in 2020. He is now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but not the first Black officer to hold the job. That honor belonged to the late
Gen. Colin Powell.
The removal of the instructional videos on the Tuskegee Airmen quickly drew scorn from people commenting on a Facebook page devoted to Air Force enlisted personnel,
Air Force Amn/Nco/Snco.
“None of that has to do with DEI, they should know the history of the Tuskegee Airmen,” one person wrote.
“That’s so dumb, that has nothing to do with the woke DEI!” another wrote.
“That is just stupid,” wrote retired Air Force Maj. Skeeter Lieberum, 72, of New Braunfels. “It's history, not DEI.”
The Tuskegee Airmen, he told the Express-News, "are my heroes."
FBI/CIA USA who hated commies
Nation of Islam
" -- people who voted for the Coconut Brat
