Peter Hegseth, Image via Wikipedia

Peter Hegseth is charging forward on the promise to De-Woke The Military, codified in Trump’s executive order to purge “DEI” from the ranks. Among their targets are Black soldiers, who have been a center–and many times a catalyst–of the broader anti-racist struggle for well over a century.

Some of Hegseth’s orders so far have left little doubt that “DEI” is a code word:

*Banning all Black History Month activities and recognitions the day before it began (while notably allowing military-wide St. Patrick’s Day celebrations)

*Firing African American “DEI General” CQ Brown from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, after lamenting how “our generals are hunting for racists in our ranks that they know do not exist” (they do)

*Banning Black student groups at military academies

*Bringing back the name “Fort Bragg” to the recently renamed Army post that had honored a Confederate general

*Ordering recruiters to stop attending the Black Engineer of the Year Awards, which one recruiter described as the “most talent-dense event we do”

It has gotten a bit more overt, deleting from the DoD website their only “Medal of Honor Monday” profile of a Black soldier given the award. A slip in the new URL code laid bare the new attitude: three letters were added so the web path would read “DEI Medal of Honor…”

DEI policies did not exist during the Vietnam War; in fact it was much harder for Black soldiers to get recognition. Charles Rogers–who won the award as he was wounded three different times leading a doomed defense of his outpost–was marked “DEI” simply because he was Black.

But the latest stuck out to me as the real shock.

On March 13, Hegseth ordered a review of military standards; and specifically, of beards.

This will likely elude non-veterans but every vet will know that this primarily impacts Black troops, who are commonly exempt from standard shaving requirements due to a skin condition (pseudofolliculitis barbae) which afflicts 45% of Black servicemen.

In other words, Hegseth has found a way to potentially purge thousands of Black servicemen. The Marine Corps has already announced they would do so. The other branches will decide soon.

Hegseth has a very public rationale for all these measures: it is actually about promoting unity! Increasing cohesion by emphasizing what we have in common!

The hallmark of this cohort has been “don’t believe your eyes.” But we all can see what this is.

We’re expected to ignore the context: that Hegseth is deep in a Christian nationalist community led by far-right theologian Doug Wilson, who wrote an entire book defending slavery in the American South. Hegseth bears tattoos associated with white supremacists. He has a long history of rhetoric clearly tapped into the far-right internet ecosphere, dominated by anti-Black content. Hegseth even took known neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec along with him on his first international trip as Secretary of Defense.

His reforms are not exactly popular in the armed forces, either, nor do they have a significant base among military leadership or academia. They stem primarily from white nationalist attitudes, obsessed with “Critical Race Theory” and now the updated term “DEI.” Their fantasies of purging Black soldiers trace back 160 years.

Black Troops Become the Nucleus of the Freedom Struggle

One of the earliest civil rights struggles in America revolved around Black soldiers.

First it was a struggle for African Americans to have the right to join the Union Army. Many died in those first units just to prove their worth, finally winning federal authorization of Black recruitment.

As predicted by Fredrick Douglass, their heroism in the Civil War would be key to advancing their cause for equality in the North. Once in the military, Black troops waged campaigns (and even mutinies) throughout the war against racist officers and unequal pay, which electrified the freedom struggle everywhere.

The Confederates, of course, would never allow Black men in the rebel uniform. But they could not accept Black men in any uniform. It drove them insane.

They instituted a policy of executing Black POWs, ignoring the decorum afforded to white POWs. Many massacres of Black troops line the war’s history; at Fort Pillow, around 200 Black soldiers who had surrendered were executed. “Remember Fort Pillow” became a rallying cry across the country, with many wearing the slogan pinned to their uniforms while they defeated their former enslavers in battle.

The Confederates would continue to be driven insane as those Black soldiers became their overseers. Black infantrymen occupied southern towns and cities after the war to keep the defeated in check and to carry out the project of Radical Reconstruction. Considering the way the world looked less than a decade prior, it was truly an unimaginable scenario.

Despite intense racism inside the armed forces, and it’s often totally unjustifiable missions, many in the Black Freedom movement saw military service as a way to challenge racist tropes about Black intelligence and humanity through unquestionable bravery.

Black soldiers also often put their training, guns, and the authority of their uniforms to use in challenging Jim Crow racism, including significant uprisings by garrisoned soldiers in cities like Tampa (1898), Houston (1917), and beyond.

Black infantry units in WWI also earned high prestige for bravery, such as the Harlem Hellfighters. More importantly, they returned to the racist US as skilled, battle-tested combatants. During the wave of white violence in Red Summer of 1919, Black WWI veterans were both the targets of mob violence, and the backbone of defense in battlegrounds like Tulsa. In Washington D.C., Black snipers atop the Howard Theater successfully held off the advance of lynch mobs.

White militiaman confronts Black soldier in Chicago

Preceding Red Summer was the lynching of WWI veteran Wilbur Little, murdered for refusing to take off his Army uniform. At least 16 veterans would be lynched that year.

They were targeted because Black men with guns was an outrage, even symbolically, since what they did with those weapons actually advanced the reputation and esteem of the Black community. And it was a practical barrier against white violence.

Their ability to achieve that status and expertise was gradually eroded. Increasingly kept out of combat arms and leadership roles, they were pushed into dirty work like shoveling coal, digging ditches and working the kitchens.

This rise of Jim Crow turned the military itself into an arena of struggle.

In 1940, 15 Black sailors aboard the USS Philadelphia publicly signed a letter detailing racial discrimination and abuse. After it was published in a newspaper, all were kicked out of the Navy and the struggle for the rights of “The Philadelphia 15” became a rallying cause for the NAACP, socialist parties and others.

Pamphlet distributed by the Socialist Workers Party, 1940

Through World War II, the Black struggle launched the Double V campaign (Victory Abroad, Victory At Home) which demanded: if Black men and women could fight for freedom abroad, they deserve freedom in the United States.

Black soldiers and sailors were known to carve the Double V symbol onto their chests. It is considered an opening salvo of the Civil Rights movement.

Mass rallies began demanding the desegregation of the military. Various organizations were formed: Committee to End Segregation in the Armed Forces; the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation and more. With the help of W.E.B. DuBois, they joined into coalition under the name Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service.

Inside the military, an even hotter struggle was waging. In 1942, 600 Black troops stationed in Australia mutinied, taking over the base and killing racist officers.

The 1944 Port Chicago disaster left around 300 Black sailors dead from loading ammunition under unsafe, overworked conditions by white officers. It led to the largest mutiny in US Navy history. The trial for 50 Black sailors who led the strike became a nationwide campaign for their exoneration.

The following year, over 1000 Black sailors went on hunger strike over the policy of only promoting whites.

The demands for equality within the ranks claimed victory with a 1948 Executive Order by Truman, officially desegregating the armed forces.

This became an important part of the framework for civil rights legislation more broadly–not just on paper, but in the movement, as the victory of the military desegregation movement pushed forward equality in all areas of life. On its heels was the Brown v. Board of Education victory, and later the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

Into Our Era

Over the next 70 years, the military would remain relevant to the anti-racist struggle nationwide. From mutinies during Vietnam to police violence against Black service members in today’s era, it has remained a trigger point.

The new direction of the DoD, under the leadership of obvious racists, sets the stage for a revival.

The 2020 nationwide rebellion against racism was quelled with repression from Trump and lies from Democrats. Those tensions remain very real and unresolved, simmering beneath the surface.

The racist agenda of the Trump Administration, in all aspects of American life, are creating sparks that could catch at any moment. His military agenda is one of those sparks.

Their attitudes flow directly from that of the Confederacy. By that same measure we can reach back into history to draw on the lessons of Black service members, and how they gave momentum and strength to the broader anti-racist struggle.

This piece first appeared on Empire Files.

The post Hegseth’s Attacks on Black Troops Evoke Long History of Anti-Racist Struggle appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Mike Prysner.

The Senate has confirmed former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Trump’s defense secretary by just one vote. Hegseth has “very clear” ties to extreme Christian nationalism, as well as a history of alleged sexual assault and abuse. Logan Davis, a reporter in Denver, Colorado, who grew up in the same classical Christian educational movement that Hegseth is raising his family in, explains the problematic ideology that shapes it. Hegseth has endorsed leaders in the community and their beliefs that the church possesses supremacy over worldly affairs, antebellum slavery was a “beneficent American institution” and the U.S.'s global war on terror is a modern-day iteration of the medieval Crusades. Davis says Hegseth's lack of qualifications for his new role means he will likely be “leaning on these controversial faith leaders in his life more than someone with adequate experience” would be — bringing this extremist Christian nationalism into the mainstream.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

The Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick to be defense secretary, was repeatedly disrupted Tuesday by protesters who denounced the nominee’s history of hateful remarks against women, LGBTQ people and others, as well as to demand an end to U.S. support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We speak with two of those protesters, military veterans Josephine Guilbeau and Greg Stoker, who say they were motivated to speak out against the “war machine” that hurts people who serve in the military as well as people around the world who are victims of U.S. militarism. “They use us as pawns to go to these wars and ultimately go kill innocent people,” says Guilbeau.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Image by Chad Madden.

I spotted Pete Hegseth’s latest book The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, while I was shopping at my local Costco. Intrigued, I bought a copy. Published by Fox News Books, it shot to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List soon after publication in early June. His name was one I recognized as one of Fox’s talking heads, who has the ear of former President Donald J. Trump on veteran’s issues and pardoning war criminals.

The back flap of Hegseth’s book describes him as “a husband, father, patriot, and Christian.” He is a U.S. Army veteran. He was a guard at Guantanamo Bay and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his time in the National Guard he was deployed in Washington D.C. during the national uprising against racism that followed the police murder of George Floyd. Hegseth is also a former failed candidate for the Republican Party U.S. Senate from Minnesota, and he’s led several “veterans” groups, including the Koch brothers backed Veterans for Freedom.

The War on Warriors, like Hitler’s Mein Kampf or My Struggle, is a contrived nightmarish vision of society, where true “patriots” are persecuted by a twisted and evil political establishment motivated to sell out their country. He is also a shameless self-promoter and bloviates about his alleged martyrdom. To get a taste of Hegseth, here’s the opening lines of his book:

I joined the Army because I wanted to serve my country. Extremism attacked us on 9/11, and we went to war.

And, in 2021, I was deemed an “extremist’ by that very same Army.

Yes, you read that right.

Twenty years…and the military I loved, I fought for. I revered…spit me out. While I was writing this book, I separated from an Army that didn’t want me anymore. The feeling was mutual — I didn’t want this Army anymore either.

It’s not clear at all from Hegseth’s book or his many interviews how he was “spit” out of the National Guard or why. The implications was that he was charged with some breach of military discipline and/or court-martialed, but the facts don’t bear this out. I scoured his book, and thinking I must have missed it, I watched several of his interviews and monologues to get a clearer answer. And, I couldn’t find it.

Hegseth refers to an unnamed senior officer, who told him to “stand down,” that he wasn’t needed anymore. Whether this conversation or something like that ever took place is questionable, but it certainly is not being “spit out,” yet it’s important for his faux martyrdom. It wouldn’t be out of the question that he simply got bored with military life and decided life was easier sitting full time on the couch at Fox News. If Trump is elected president this November, Hegseth will probably be on the short list for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, which would be a disaster for veterans of any political stripe.

Die Hard

I’ve read many modern military autobiographies and biographies over the years, including Colin Powell’s My American Journey and Norman Schwartzkopf’s It Doesn’t Take a Hero. Biographies are almost always self-serving, usually concerned about preserving one’s place in history or an eye on a future political career, but you can sometimes also learn, as I did, something about the post-Vietnam era U.S. military. The only thing I learned from Pete Hegseth’s book is what an ugly and dangerous mind he possesses.

Hegseth’s wrath is directed at “woke” political elites and military leaders because of the very mild Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives adopted by the U.S. military over the last few years. His “book” is really one long political rant and a call to action. “Now is not the time to retreat,” Hegseth writes,” from our military. If we secede from our military branches — and service writ large — then we’re handing the keys of our Republic over to the very people who loathe the sort of men vital to defending us.”

Exhibiting a difficulty that American men of certain age have of distinguishing between reality and Hollywood movies, Hegseth writes,

Our “elites” are like the feckless drug-addled businessmen at Nakatomi Plaza, looking down on Bruce Willis’ John McClane in Die Hard. But there will come a day when they realize they need John McClane — that in fact their ability to live in peace and prosperity has always depended on guys like him being honorable, powerful, and deadly.

He rants on:

The military has long been a place for turning mere boys into fighting men not just teaching them honor and sacrifice but by channeling daring, building strength, and accumulating skills. The so-called elites directing the military aren’t just lowering standards and focusing on the wrong enemy; they are working to rid the military of this specific (essential) type of young patriot. They believe power is bad, merit is unfair, ideology is more important than industriousness, white people are yesterday and safety is better than risk-taking.

And, finally:

This book is a clarion call to charge ahead with everything we have into the breach. Retreating now means we will definitely lose. Charging ahead means we have a fighting chance.

The military is where our country needs — desperately — patriotic, faith-filled, and brave young Americans to step up and take the long view. At a basic level, do we really want only the woke “diverse” recruits that the Biden administration is curating to be the ones with the guns and guidons?

But more than that, we want those diverse recruits — pumped full of vaccines and even more poisonous ideologies — to be sharing a basic training bunk with sane Americans. If elite universities are where underprivileged kids learn how to hobnob with the elites, then the military should be where potential Antifa members learn what it really means to use force for just and honorable reasons. The American military is one of the great deradicalization machines for aimless young men — but only it is working correctly.

If sometimes, what Hegseth calls elites is hazy and confusing, he makes it very clear in other passages. “Marxists are our enemies,” he declares. And, he means using force to defeat his enemies. “Busy killing Islamists in shithole countries — and then betrayed by our leaders — our warriors have every reason to let America’s dynasty fade away. Leftists stole a lot from us, but we won’t let them take this. Time for round two — we won’t miss this war.”

Reading Hegseth’s long rants, I couldn’t help thinking that he accuses his enemies of what he is guilty of. One thing of the many things that we can say is the U.S. military has been a major source of far right radicalization for decades, most famously Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and a large number of those who attacked the Capitol Building on January 6th at the behest of President Donald Trump. Hegseth defended Trump’s January 6th coup attempt.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s order to hold a one day “stand-down” to combat extremism in the military in February 2021, is mocked by Hegseth as “drivel.”

Mein Kampf

I don’t believe Hegseth is a straight-up Nazi, but he is certainly a dangerous authoritarian and racist who should be kept away from positions of power. Reading over two hundred pages of his rants, I heard the echo of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. In the aftermath of the failed Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923, Adolf Hitler was arrested and charged with high treason. He spent several months awaiting trial in Landsberg Fortress. His conditions were pretty cushy.

During his time in Landsberg, Hitler penned his famous autobiography or long political rant, Mein Kampf or My Struggle. He originally wanted to call it “Four and a Half Years of Struggle and Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice.” But, Max Amann, the head of the Nazi publishing house nixed the idea and shortened the title. It was not a best seller upon release.

There have been libraries full of books written about Hitler and the Nazis. I reached for an old copy of William L. Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a liberal, pro-labor history of Hitler and the Nazis that was popular among American readers in the 1960s. There are in retrospect many shortcomings to the book, but he made a valid point,

“For whatever other accusations can be made against Hitler, no one can accuse him of not putting down in writing exactly the kind of Germany he intended to make if he ever came to power.”

We should take Pete Hegseth’s rantings just as seriously.

The post Pete Hegseth’s Mein Kampf appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Joe Allen.