Jackie Robinson article restored on Defense Dept. site after ‘alarming' removal amid DEI purge

New York Times

19-03-2025

An article on the Department of Defense's website about baseball icon Jackie Robinson's time serving in the U.S. Army appears to have been restored Wednesday after its initial removal.
The article's scrubbing, first reported by KSBW Action News on Tuesday, came amid a purge of government web content spotlighting historical contributions by women and minority groups following President Donald Trump's executive order to end federal support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
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A statement from Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot on Wednesday highlighted the department's opposition to DEI efforts, though it did not specifically mention the article on Robinson.
'As Secretary (Pete) Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department,' the statement said. 'Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services' core warfighting mission.
'We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed — either deliberately or by mistake — that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content accordingly.'
The Defense Department did not respond to a follow-up inquiry.
On Wednesday morning, a link that guided users to a 2021 article titled, 'Sports Heroes Who Served: Baseball Great Jackie Robinson Was WWII Soldier,' showed a 404 error page with 'dei' included in the URL, though the content could still be accessed via the Internet Archive. As of Wednesday afternoon, however, the 'dei' term was removed and the original link was again functioning on the site.
The article details Robinson's military service during World War II, his contributions to baseball and the racism he experienced in both facets. Before Robinson became the first Black player in modern Major League Baseball in 1947, he was drafted for service in 1942. He was originally assigned to a segregated cavalry unit at Fort Riley, Kan., where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1943, and later transferred to the 761st 'Black Panthers' tank battalion at Fort Hood, Texas.
The article also mentions an incident in 1994 in which Robinson refused to move seats on an Army bus, after being told to 'get to the back of the bus where the colored people belong.' The incident led to Robinson being court-martialed. He was eventually acquitted, transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Ky., and honorably discharged in November 1944.
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His post-military career and the integral role he played in the Civil Rights Movement are widely known, as he went on to play for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues and then famously joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he became a six-time All-Star and World Series champion in 1955. Robinson, who died in 1972, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility. MLB retired his No. 42 league-wide in 1997.
Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., told The Athletic on Wednesday that he doesn't consider Robinson's legacy or content related to it 'DEI.'
'This is American history,' Kendrick said. 'And Jackie Robinson epitomizes, in my view, what it means to be an American. He embodies that, just as so many players of the Negro Leagues did. So these kinds of initiatives are certainly alarming. It makes the value of an institution like the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum that much more important.'
David Robinson, the son of Jackie and Rachel Robinson who serves as a Jackie Robinson Foundation board member, said in a statement that the foundation was surprised to learn that the webpage had been taken down.
'We take great pride in Jackie Robinson's service to our country as a soldier and a sports hero, an icon whose courage, talent, strength of character and dedication contributed greatly to leveling the playing field not only in professional sports but throughout society,' Robinson's statement said. 'He worked tirelessly on behalf of equal opportunities, in education, business, civic engagement, and within the justice system. A recipient of both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, he of course is an American hero.'
An MLB spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the situation.
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According to The Associated Press, a webpage honoring Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers, a Black Medal of Honor recipient, was removed last week but restored Monday, and an internet page featuring the contributions of Japanese-American service members was also taken down amid the department's DEI purge.
— Levi Weaver contributed to this report.