Overview

• An internal email from the Pentagon’s public affairs office directed staff to take a passive approach to Juneteenth messaging and refrain from publishing holiday content online.
• The Department of Defense may still hold camaraderie-building celebrations, targeted outreach events and historical recognitions under existing guidance.
• At a Senate hearing, Hegseth declared “DEI is dead” and said he has replaced diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives with a colorblind, gender-neutral, merit-based approach.
• President Trump’s January executive order had already eliminated DEI programs across the military, a policy Hegseth has energetically implemented.
• Juneteenth, made a federal holiday in 2021, commemorates the 1865 announcement that enslaved people in Texas were free.