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MaddowBlog-Coast Guard reverses course, keeps swastikas and nooses on list of hate symbols
As the dust settles on this short-lived controversy, it’s worth asking who thought reclassifying nooses and swastikas was a good idea in the first place.
Coast Guard reverses course, keeps swastikas and nooses on list of hate symbols
— James Hughes (@dystopian-fashion.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T18:20:21.480Z
As the dust settles on this short-lived controversy, it’s worth asking who thought reclassifying nooses and swastikas was a good idea in the first place.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/coast-guard-reverses-course-keeps-swastikas-nooses-list-hate-symbols-rcna245143
On Thursday afternoon, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Coast Guard would no longer classify swastikas as hate symbols, instead adopting new guidelines that would label the Nazi-era insignia as “potentially divisive.” The same policy, set to take effect on Dec. 15, was intended to apply to nooses......
But as additional evidence of the proposed guidelines emerged and outrage over the change grew, officials did exactly what many predicted they would do: They quickly reversed course. The Washington Post reported in a follow-up piece:
Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, clarified in a late Thursday memo, “A symbol or flag is prohibited as a reflection of hate if its display adversely affects good order and discipline, unit cohesion, command climate, morale, or mission effectiveness.”.....
As the dust settles on this story, the Post’s latest reporting added, “While the Coast Guard has now come out strongly against the incendiary wording in the now defunct policy … there are still significant questions as to who approved reclassifying both a noose and swastika as just potentially divisive in the first place.”
In other words, there might yet be another chapter to this short-lived controversy.
But as additional evidence of the proposed guidelines emerged and outrage over the change grew, officials did exactly what many predicted they would do: They quickly reversed course. The Washington Post reported in a follow-up piece:
In a stunning and lightning-fast reversal of policy, the U.S. Coast Guard late Thursday said the swastika and noose were indeed hate symbols that are prohibited and have no place in the military branch.
Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, clarified in a late Thursday memo, “A symbol or flag is prohibited as a reflection of hate if its display adversely affects good order and discipline, unit cohesion, command climate, morale, or mission effectiveness.”.....
As the dust settles on this story, the Post’s latest reporting added, “While the Coast Guard has now come out strongly against the incendiary wording in the now defunct policy … there are still significant questions as to who approved reclassifying both a noose and swastika as just potentially divisive in the first place.”
In other words, there might yet be another chapter to this short-lived controversy.