Rewriting Reality: The campaign to redefine America's past

The AI-powered elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout all branches of government has sparked public outrage.

By Milan Rafaelov, staff writer

Photo Illustration by Astrid Cortez

As part of a broader federal directive aimed at refocusing government messaging and historical representation, The Department of Defense has ordered all branches to remove and archive digital content depicting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The order follows the implementation of new executive policies emphasizing traditional values and historical narratives. 

"We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms,” said Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot. “In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly."

The initial removal of content honoring figures like the Navajo Code Talkers, Tuskegee Airmen and Jackie Robinson’s military service sparked public outrage and was later reversed. 

"How do you interpret guidance that's coming down that is really quite limited in scope, and it doesn't really tell you much information?" asked a Department of Defense official, who requested anonymity from WHRO News, because of the fear of retaliation. "It just says, go do this thing. Everybody's individual interpretation and action on the guidance is so different."

Further confusion arose among DoD employees when AI-flagged photos mistakenly affected images of service members with the surname 'Gay' as well as the B-29 aircraft “Enola Gay,” simply because the file contained the word 'gay.' The images were also later restored.

“DEI has become an inherently ambiguous term and It’s meaning whatever conservative ideology does not find favorable at the time,” said Sam Pullen, president of Valley's political science club. “DEI has become mistified and is used in place of various community names. It is a catch all term, and that is, I think, very purposeful when we are talking about people that are inherently authoritarian in how they use language to obscure action.” 

Under the executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” a revision of historical narratives to reflect 'color-blind' perspectives and champion America's achievements over pluralistic ideologies has been directed at the Smithsonian Institution. Vice President J.D. Vance, who sits on the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, has been granted oversight authority to review and remove content deemed “improper ideology.” 

The order also mandates that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum oversee the restoration of monuments, memorials, and statues removed or altered since 2020. This includes controversial Confederate statues taken down during the protests that followed after the murder of George Floyd. 

In Washington, D.C., construction crews removed the two-blocks-long “Black Lives Matter” mural near the White House. The large yellow lettering, painted in 2020, became a symbol of the racial justice activism that followed after the killing of George Floyd. The mural will be replaced by an unspecified series of public art pieces, according to city officials. 

The removal follows pressure from Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who introduced legislation to rename and redesign the plaza, calling the original mural divisive. 

“My focus remains on ensuring this woke, divisive slogan is removed and no longer stains the streets of America’s capital city, and I will continue pursuing my effort until BLM Plaza is officially gone for good,” Clyde said in a written statement to NBC Washington.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who ordered the installation and renamed the intersection Black Lives Matter Plaza in June 2020, was pressured to remove the large-scale installation and rename the two-block stretch of 16th Street NW or risk losing federal funding for D.C.

“What Trump is doing by cutting so many jobs, cutting so many federal reserves of funding, it’s stressing people out and if you’re stressed out, you don’t have time to keep up on the news and federal action,” said Pullen. “You have time to keep up with what’s gonna feed your family and keep a roof over your head if you can. It’s all on purpose. The more stressed out you are, the less you will pay attention.”