An article about Jackie Robinson’s service in the Army was scrubbed from the Department of Defense website on Wednesday and later restored after a DOD official told ABC News that it had been “mistakenly removed.”
The official told the outlet that it had been caught up among other materials removed over search terms used to identify diversity, equity and inclusion content from the site, as part of President Donald Trump’s directive to do away with DEI initiatives set by the previous administration.
The article, part of a DOD series entitled “Sports Heroes Who Served,” is a celebration of Robinson’s athletic achievements as well as his military service during World War II and his lasting legacy as a civil rights icon as he became the first black player in Major League Baseball in 1947.
Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot told multiple outlets in a statement that “everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson,” while also mentioning their respect for the Tuskegee Airmen, Navajo Code Talkers and Marines at Iwo Jima – all of whom also had their DOD webpages taken down.
Those pages are also expected to be restored, ABC News reported.
“We salute them for their strong and in many cases heroic service to our country, full stop,” Ullyot said in the statement. “We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex. We do so only by recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like ever other American who has worn the uniform.”
Ullyot also referred to DEI as “Discriminatory Equity Ideology” and added that it “divides” and “erodes” cohesion among the unit.
“We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms,” he said. “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 so it recognizes our heroes for their dedicated service alongside their fellow Americans, period.”
The article, titled “Sports Heroes Who Served: Baseball Great Jackie Robinson Was WWII Soldier,” told the story of how Robinson was assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit after he was drafted in 1942 and addressed his 1944 arrest when he refused an order to go the back of an Army bus.
Robinson was acquitted during a court-martial later that year and honorably discharged in Nov. 1944.
Robinson’s place in American history has been solidified a number of times, including by MLB which permanently retired his No. 42 across the entire league and celebrates Jackie Robinson Day every April 15.
Just last month, Trump announced plans for a statute of Robinson, among other notable Black figures, to be part of the proposed National Garden of American Heros.
During the announcement, Trump described them as “generations of Black legends, champions, warriors and patriots who helped drive our country forward to greatness.”
