Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office requested “a passive approach to Juneteenth messaging” for the holiday on Thursday commemorating the end of slavery, according to an email obtained by Rolling Stone. The news was relayed by the Pentagon’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, which said it wasn’t planning to publish Juneteenth-related content online, per the email.
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865, after the Civil War ended, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced that the enslaved Americans in the state had been freed. June 19 was made into a federal holiday under a law signed by former President Joe Biden in 2021. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and with broad bipartisan support in the U.S. House.
Asked for comment, a Pentagon official says the Department of Defense “may engage in the following activities, subject to applicable department guidance: holiday celebrations that build camaraderie and esprit de corps; outreach events (e.g., recruiting engagements with all-male, all-female, or minority-serving academic institutions) where doing so directly supports DoD’s mission; and recognition of historical events and notable figures where such recognition informs strategic thinking, reinforces our unity, and promotes meritocracy and accountability.”
The White House did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the administration has led a crusade against the concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. Hegseth has dutifully carried out Trump’s anti-diversity purge, declaring in a handwritten directive, posted to X, that “DEI is DEAD” at the Department of Defense. “Those who do not comply will no longer work here,” he added.
In a Senate hearing Wednesday, the former Fox News host said in his prepared testimony, “DEI is dead. We replaced it with a colorblind, gender-neutral, merit-based approach, and the force is responding incredibly.” Hegseth has claimed that “DEI & social/gender theories directly undermine meritocracy and standards. Which, in the military, makes us less ready — and gets troops killed.”
Hegseth banned the Defense Department from using official resources to celebrate heritage months — like Black History Month, the day before it began. And in late February, a top Hegseth deputy ordered the Pentagon to remove all “news and feature articles, photos, and videos that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.” This has meant deleting the historic achievements of Black, Latino, and women veterans — and occasionally backtracking under scrutiny.
The following month, the Defense Department temporarily removed an article highlighting the accomplishments of Jackie Robinson, who served in World War II and was the first Black player in the modern history of Major League Baseball.
The Air Force temporarily took down a basic-training class featuring videos of the Tuskegee Airmen, known for being the first African American pilots in the U.S. military. “This will not stand,” Hegseth said, pledging to fix it. Yet, the Arlington Cemetery went on to delete a webpage honoring the graves of several famous Tuskegee Airmen. On the Arlington Cemetery website’s page highlighting notable graves, all references to African American history, Hispanic American history, and women’s history were deleted.
The anti-DEI purge has also come for content relating to Juneteenth.
Last year, the Army published an article on its website titled, “Juneteenth: Celebrating freedom, honoring those who fought for equality.”
The post stated, “Juneteenth is an integral part of Army life. It is a time to reflect on the crucial role the Army played in the Emancipation Proclamation and ending segregation in the U.S.”
The article, which called on readers to “honor those who fought and sacrificed to ensure the Constitution fulfilled its promise to all Americans,” has since been removed from the Army’s website.
The Army website does feature a press release published Tuesday that commemorates “three powerful observances” taking place in the span of June and July: “the 250th Birthday of the United States Army, Juneteenth, and Independence Day.”
At the top is a banner stating that the Army has “deliberately taken some of our webpages offline in order to comply with executive orders” and policy from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It adds, “The intent is to preserve our history, and we are working to re-publish content as soon as possible.”
