Confederate Flag to Be Banned From Public Spaces on Navy Ships
Confederate Flag to Be Banned From Public Spaces on Navy Ships
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Navy is moving to ban the Confederate battle flag from public spaces on its vessels and bases as the American military steps up its response to widespread protests against racism after the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
Admiral Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, “has directed his staff to begin crafting an order that would prohibit the Confederate battle flag from all public spaces and work areas aboard Navy installations, ships, aircraft and submarines,” according to a statement Tuesday from Commander Nate Christensen, a spokesman for Gilday.
“The order is meant to ensure unit cohesion, preserve good order and discipline, and uphold the Navy’s core values of honor, courage and commitment,” Christensen said.
The Navy’s move is the latest by the U.S. military after the death of George Floyd as Minneapolis police pinned him down set off nationwide protests and a broader discussion in American society about confronting racism. The Confederate flag -- a legacy of America’s 1861-1865 civil war -- has been widely adopted by racist groups including the Ku Klux Klan.
Ryan McCarthy, the secretary of the Army, earlier signaled he’s open to a conversation with lawmakers about changing the names of Army bases named after Confederate officers, according to an Army official. That would probably include facilities such as Texas’s Fort Hood, named after Confederate General John Bell Hood.
A number of former military leaders have spoken out in recent days as part of the national conversation about race in America following Floyd’s death and President Donald Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act to send active-duty troops into states roiled by protests even if governors objected.
Those objecting to Trump’s consideration of the 19th-century law included his former defense secretary, Jim Mattis, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and General John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff.
In a widely circulated Twitter post last week, the Air Force’s top enlisted leader spoke out after Floyd’s death. Kaleth O. Wright wrote on Twitter, “I am George Floyd,” adding, “ I am a Black Man who happens to be Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force and I am committed to making this better.”
The military’s makeup is also changing: Racial and ethnic minorities made up 43% of active-duty forces as of 2017, an increase from 25% in 1990, according to reports from the Pew Research Center.
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