The U.S. Coast Guard is softening its opposition to swastikas, as well as nooses and Confederate flags, saying it will no longer classify them as symbols of hate.
Instead, under new guidelines taking effect next month, the Coast Guard will recognize the cross-like symbol that represents the ideology of Nazi Germany as “potentially divisive,” but not hateful, according to the Washington Post.
The swastika was worn by German soldiers who fought against the U.S. and her allies in World War II and operated concentration camps in which millions of Jews and other minority groups were killed.
“We don’t deserve the trust of the nation if we’re unclear about the divisiveness of swastikas,” one official who disagrees with the Coast Guard’s new position told the Post.
While displaying the Confederate flag remains effectively banned within the Coast Guard, the symbol representing the U.S. states that fought to preserve slavery, and nooses symbolizing the lynchings of Black people, will also be categorized in a less stringent fashion beginning Dec. 15.
The Coast Guard doesn’t fall under the auspices of the Department of Defense, but it’s hard-right policy turn reflects the vision that Secretary of Defense and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth has proposed for the nation’s armed services.
The Coast Guard is currently led by Acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday. Former Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the first woman to lead a U.S. military branch, was relieved of duty when President Trump took office in January. Fagan was criticized for an “excessive focus on diversity, equity and Inclusion policies including at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy,” according to CBS News.
The Pentagon has made rooting out D.E.I. in the military a priority since Trump appointed Hegseth to run the Department of Defense.
“For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons, based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts,” Hegseth said in a September gathering of military brass in Virginia.
Coast Guard officials didn’t comment on the Post’s report.
