Air Force reinstates course with Tuskegee Airmen video after outcry; Air Force Times, January 27, 2025

Stephen Losey , Air Force Times; Air Force reinstates course with Tuskegee Airmen video after outcry

"The Air Force is reinstating a basic training class Monday that was suspended last week for revisions, with its materials on World War II-era Black and female pilotsintact but diversity, equity and inclusion components removed.

The Air Force originally halted its basic military training course on “airmindedness” on Jan. 23, days after President Donald Trump issued a sweeping order barring DEI programs from the federal government and military. That class included videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, who were the first Black and female pilots, respectively, to fly for the military.

An internal message leaked online Friday indicated videos on the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs were pulled immediately from the class to comply with Trump’s DEI orders. The Air Force clarified Saturday that the videos themselves were not targeted for removal, but that BMT classes including diversity-related materials were temporarily suspended for review.

A revised class on “airmindedness” is going into place Monday, Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, head of Air Education and Training Command, said in a Sunday statement. That class will include material on the Tuskegee and WASP pilots.

“No curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Airforce Service Pilots has been removed from basic military training,” Robinson said. “The block in which these lessons were taught included DEI material which was directed to be removed. We believe this adjustment to curriculum to be fully aligned with the direction given in the DEI executive order.”"

Trump’s anti-DEI order yanks air force videos of Tuskegee Airmen and female pilots; Reuters via The Guardian, January 25, 2025

Reuters via The Guardian ; Trump’s anti-DEI order yanks air force videos of Tuskegee Airmen and female pilots

[Kip Currier: As the proud son of a U.S. Air Force veteran captain, I respectfully call on the U.S. Air Force to again make available to its instructors and students these important parts of its history, as a force for making our country and the world safer and more representative of the promise of America.]

[Excerpt]

"Donald Trump’s order halting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives has led the US air force to suspend course instruction on a documentary about the first Black airmen in the US military, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, a US official said on Saturday.

The famed Black aviators included 450 pilots who fought overseas in segregated units during the second world war. Their success in combat helped pave the way for Harry Truman’s decision to desegregate the armed forces in 1948.

Another video about civilian female pilots trained by the US military during the second world war, known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or Wasps, was also pulled, the official said.

The air force did not directly comment on the decision, which was confirmed by an official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity."