Under the Trump administration’s efforts against DEI content and policies (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), the Defense Secretary’s office ordered the Naval Academy to review and remove books that promoted DEI in early April. Obliging, the Navy created its own buzzwords to identify and remove 381 books from its Nimitz Library. These titles included  Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give, and Janet Jacob’s Memorializing the Holocaust. An outcry from both local and nationwide communities ensued. 

However, recently, a May 9th Pentagon memo sent out a list of 20 official search terms to identify DEI, which included “anti-racism,” “discrimination,” and “gender identity.” Under a new review that used the Pentagon’s standardized search terms, only 20 books were removed at the U.S Naval Academy, with only two or three being a part of the original 381. Now, nearly all 381 books are back in circulation. 

The Young Forwardists believe in productive bipartisan debate, which is achieved through diversity of thought. While the reinstallment of these books is recognized as positive, it’s still important to examine the deeper implications these recent developments represent. 

The reversal of the removal of books from the Nimitz library has been described by news sources as “ the latest turn in a dizzying effort to rid the military of materials related to DEI.” The effort reveals communication challenges, inconsistency, rushed actions in response to vague orders, and overall confusion on how to interpret the executive anti-DEI policy. Confusion around interpreting anti-DEI policy has caused incidents of the Pentagon removing, but later restoring, webpages on Tuskegee Airmen and Navajo Code Talkers. The incidents highlight how the ambiguity of Executive Order 14151 can be dangerous and lead to wrongful erasure.

Despite many books being returned to the shelves of the Naval Academy’s library, 20 books have also been removed. The removal of any book, and by extension the removal of challenging ideas, is an action that should not be taken lightly.

Books have always been a target under many different agendas. The censorship of books is an attempt to silence the uncomfortable questions raised by the stories, a way to silence one narrative while sponsoring a different one. Retired naval officer David Driftmier, after reading one of the originally removed books, stated that while he didn’t agree with everything in the book, he still found it “incredibly enlightening.” 

The battle against DEI content itself is justified as an effort to get rid of an “oppressive ideology.” However, the Young Forwardists believe that books keep chaos and divisive, oppressive regimes at bay, rather than being the source of them.