The Trump administration is weighing the removal of the names of civil rights leaders and Black pioneers from U.S. naval ships.
According to CBS News, the USNS Harriet Tubman is among several ships named after prominent Black Americans, abolitionists, labor leaders, and more that the Defense Department, led by Secretary Pete Hegseth, might rename.
Hegseth has already officially ordered the renaming of a ship honoring the late Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. Milk was assassinated in 1978.
The renaming comes during LGBTQ+ Pride month. According to a memo, the Milk ship is being renamed to align with the Navy’s priority of “reestablishing the warrior culture” under the Trmp administration. It is rare for a ship to be renamed, and it hasn’t happened under the orders of a defense secretary in recent history.
Other ships under consideration for renaming include ones honoring Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first Black Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Dolores Huerta, Lucy Stone, Cesar Chavez, and Medgar Evers.
“Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s history and the warrior ethos. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
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