Tuskegee Airmen videos restored after DEI rollback

The Air Force says it has restored the use of training material referring to the Tuskegee Airmen after a temporary delay to edit its courses.

The videos were removed briefly and edited over the weekend to meet the Trump administration’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, the service said. It’s unclear what edits were made.

The training courses included videos of its storied Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs — the female World War II pilots.

The videos were shown to Air Force troops as part of DEI courses they took during basic military training.

Tuskegee Airmen videos

What they're saying:

Pete Hegseth said in a post on X on Monday, on his first day as Defense Secretary, that any move to cut the training was "immediately reversed." 

In other comments, Hegseth said that "military training will be focused on the readiness of what our troops in the field need to deter our enemies."

The Air Force later said that "no Airmen or Guardians will miss this block of instruction due to the revision, however one group of trainees had the training delayed. That block of training was pulled in order to take out DEI material on Jan. 23 and will continue again as of Monday."

The Tuskegee Airmen group, which was among those criticizing the removal of the videos, said it appreciated the Air Force leadership for responding quickly to its concerns.

RELATED: Tuskegee Airmen videos removed from Air Force training under Trump DEI rollback

Who are the Tuskegee Airmen? 

The backstory:

The Tuskegee Airmen, known as the "Red Tails" were the nation's first Black military pilots who served in a segregated WWII unit and their all-Black 332nd Fighter Group had one of the lowest loss records of all the bomber escorts in the war.

They flew P-47 Thunderbolt, P-51 Mustang and other fighter aircraft to escort American bombers on dangerous missions over Germany. 

President George W. Bush awarded the Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda in 2007.

In 2020, in his State of the Union address, Trump announced he had promoted one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, Charles McGee, to brigadier general. McGee died in 2022 at age 102.

What does DEI mean? 

DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. 

The origins of the programs date back to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, among many critical progressive moves, outlawed employment discrimination based on race, religion, sex, color and national origin. 

The other side:

Critics argue that programs encouraging hiring based on these factors are unfair and they advocate providing the same opportunities for everyone, regardless of such factors. 

Big picture view:

President Donald Trump’s administration last week moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal DEI staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off.

That step is the first in an aggressive campaign to upend DEI efforts nationwide, and a number of prominent companies have scaled back or set aside their DEI initiatives that much of corporate America endorsed after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. 

Trump has called DEI programs "discrimination" and insisted on restoring strictly "merit-based" hiring.

READ MORE: Target rolls back its DEI goals following Trump’s executive order

Why you should care:

Critics of Trump’s rollback of affirmative action and DEI initiatives say it could result in dramatic shifts in hiring and a return to discriminatory practices of the past.