The U.S. Coast Guard recently announced changes to its policies concerning hate and harassment, relaxing its prohibitions against racist and antisemitic symbols. The changes have sparked outrage and condemnation, leading the Coast Guard to scramble to adjust or clarify its policies in the face of public opposition.
Coast Guard weakens policies on display of hate symbols
The Washington Post first reported Thursday that the Coast Guard would no longer classify nooses or the swastika as hate symbols despite their long associations with racism and systematic violence. The new policies indicated that the display of symbols like the swastika or noose would be considered “potentially divisive.”
This is weaker language than policies put in place by the Coast Guard in 2019, declaring that “the display or depiction of a symbol widely identified with oppression or hatred is a potential hate incident, including but not limited to the display of a noose, a swastika, supremacist symbols, Confederate symbols or flags, and anti-Semitic symbols.”
The 2019 policy, issued by Admiral Karl L. Schultz, then the Coast Guard Commandant, “directed commanding officers to investigate these displays and authorized them to remove divisive symbols when warranted, even if the display does not amount to a hate incident.”
Other changes relax the prohibition on harassment, hazing
The revisions to Coast Guard policy also relaxed standards for harassment, removing gender identity as a protected category against harassment and declaring that any harassment on the basis of protected categories such as race or gender was only punishable if it was deemed “severe or pervasive.”
The new policies also reflect Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s permissive stance on hazing by stipulating that hazing could serve “a proper military or other governmental purpose.” After the Washington Post’s story led to questions and criticisms concerning the new policies, Admiral Kevin Lunday, who was appointed by Trump to serve as the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, claimed that the revised policy did not change the way that hate symbols would be treated, saying that displays of symbols like the noose or swastika “will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished.”
Trump administration defends, attacks, then backtracks
As outrage persisted over the altered policies, the Trump administration started to question the validity of reporting on the issue. Lunday tweeted that “The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false.” A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which houses the Coast Guard, said that the Washington Post “should be embarrassed it published this fake crap.” Nevertheless, Lunday issued a new memo later Thursday afternoon. This latest document reads, in part, “Divisive or hate symbols and flags are prohibited. These symbols and flags include, but are not limited to, the following: a noose, a swastika, and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups as representations of supremacy, racial or religious intolerance, anti-semitism, or any other improper bias.”
Democratic Congresswoman Lauren Underwood of Illinois was one of the lawmakers who objected to the changes. “Today it was revealed that the Coast Guard would no longer classify swastikas and nooses as hate symbols. Unacceptable,” she tweeted Thursday evening. The Congresswoman added, “I just met with Admiral Lunday, and got his committment to publish a new policy. Hate has no place in our armed services.” It is not clear if her meeting occurred before or after Lunday distributed the most recent document.
The Coast Guard is attempting to portray this latest statement as merely a restatement of the policy that was issued earlier this month. But for many, it seems that the military branch’s leadership is instead reacting to widespread condemnation of its hate policy revisions, backtracking on its decision and reaffirming its prior ban on hate symbols.