Pete Hegseth Is Trying to Resegregate the Military
“Color-blind and merit-based” now seems to be anything but.
Service in wartime has long been a reliable path for Americans denied full citizenship to secure their rights. Black troops’ contributions to the Union cause during the Civil War helped convince Abraham Lincoln of the righteousness of extending suffrage to Black men. Women’s work on the h...
The strongest version of this narrative is that the Trump administration, through Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is systematically purging Black and female officers from military leadership under the guise of "merit-based" promotions, while simultaneously undermining the military’s hard-won progress on diversity and inclusion. The article effectively documents a pattern of dismissals, public statements, and policy shifts that suggest a deliberate rollback of equity initiatives. It also ties thi...