Medgar Evers' family fights efforts to strip his name from Navy vessel [View all]
Source: AP
Updated 11:34 AM EDT, June 12, 2025
A week after Pentagon leaders announced their intention to possibly rename the USNS Medgar Evers, christened for the World War II veteran and civil rights leader, his family urged the Department of Defense and the Navy to reverse their position.
The ship is one of eight vessels named after activists – among them Cesar Chavez, Harvey Milk, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harriet Tubman – that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to rebrand in a large offensive against “wokeness” and diversity, equity and inclusion in the military to reestablish the “warrior ethos.”
This could be the second time Evers’ name is erased. Although President Donald Trump called Medgar Evers a “great American hero” at the 2017 opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, his name was removed last March from a site on the Arlington National Cemetery Website, which featured a section honoring Black Americans who fought in the nation’s wars.
“Renaming the USNS Medgar Evers is not only malicious — it is despicable,” said Evers’ daughter, Reena Evers-Everette. “As my mother said, ‘This is an injustice to a man who fought for his country both at home and abroad.’”
Read more: https://apnews.com/us-news/pete-hegseth-general-news-harriet-tubman-donald-trump-donald-trump-es-98263add9d61f9fba98c725da3133e16
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