JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Pentagon is calling for a ship named for the late Navy veteran and gay rights advocate Harvey Milk to be changed. And that same fate could also be in store for seven other ships named after civil rights leaders, as well as prominent women. This is the latest in the Trump administration's efforts to reverse what they call a woke military, focusing too much on diversity, equity and inclusion. NPR's Tom Bowman is here in the studio with more. Hey there.
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Tom, do we know when the ship will be renamed, and what can you tell us about the others?
BOWMAN: You know, we don't. Now, this ship - it's basically a supply ship, named for Harvey Milk - has been in the fleet for the past two years. The other seven are in various stages of construction and named for the likes of Harriet Tubman, a former slave who helped slaves escape to freedom, also Cesar Chavez, the Hispanic labor activist. All these ships named are being reviewed. This was first reported, by the way, by CBS News.
Now, these are all part of the John Lewis class of ships, named for the late congressman and civil rights activist. His name is on the first of these ships. It's also in the fleet. So no word on whether that ship will be renamed. Congresswoman and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who's from San Francisco where Harvey Milk served on the board of supervisors before he was assassinated in 1978 - she put out a statement calling the name change shameful and spiteful.
SUMMERS: What do we know about the reasoning behind this?
BOWMAN: You know, all we got from the Pentagon is a brief statement from spokesman Sean Parnell, who said this effort is, quote, "reflective of the commander in chief's priorities, our nation's history and the warrior ethos." Of course, these names are associated with the nation's history and no sense of how this has anything to do with the warrior ethos we keep hearing about from Pentagon leaders.
Now, of course, this all follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's firing prominent Black and female senior officers, questioning whether they received their posts because of merit or because of their race or gender. They included Air Force General C. Q. Brown, the second African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman selected as the Navy's top officer. And remember, the Trump administration also set out to eliminate or restructure courses at the U.S. Naval Academy in West Point that had to do with racial, gender or LGBTQ issues. Books with such topics are either removed from their libraries or still under review.
SUMMERS: Tom, I wonder, is it rare for the Navy to rename a ship?
BOWMAN: You know, it really is. Two years ago, the Navy renamed the USS Chancellorsville and the USNS Maury based on a congressional commission's recommendation to remove names linked to the Confederacy. And the Maury became the USNS Marie Tharp, named after a pioneering female oceanographer. You know, I should also point out that there's a new aircraft carrier being planned, and it's called the USS Doris Miller, named after the Black Medal of Honor recipient who was a hero during the Pearl Harbor attack. The ship will get underway in 2029. No word on whether the Pentagon will seek a name change there.
SUMMERS: So as you say, the ships named for Doris Miller, as well as John Lewis - they could remain, potentially, right?
BOWMAN: Yeah. Yeah, again, we don't know. And this whole effort at removing references to what the administration calls either woke or DEI or divisive - it seems kind of haphazard. Earlier this year, the Pentagon pulled some links to achievements by military women, African Americans and Navajo code talkers from World War II, only to restore them after an outcry. The Pentagon also removed information about the Buffalo Soldiers, the Black troops who fought out west in the 19th century, but get this, the Army's museum has a prominent display about them.
SUMMERS: NPR's Tom Bowman, thanks as always.
BOWMAN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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