JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Starting next month, the U.S. Coast Guard plan to refer the use of racist symbols like swastikas and nooses as potentially divisive instead of continuing their policy of identifying them as hate symbols. Since the Washington Post and other outlets reported that news on Thursday, there's been an uproar, and the Coast Guard has walked back some of those proposed changes. Steve Walsh joins us now from member station WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia, to explain. Hi.
STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Steve, there's been a whole lot of outrage about this, but how did this come about? Like, what was the initial policy on language?
WALSH: So it's an update of the Coast Guard's manual for handling harassment, including how cases are investigated. Previous manuals used the term hate symbols to describe swastikas, nooses, the Confederate flag or other symbols associated with racial and religious supremist (ph) movements. But the Coast Guard wanted to change that. Instead, what was previously called hate incidents was now being lumped in with other harassment claims.
The policy was set to take effect December 15, but after reports of the new language went public, Jewish groups and several lawmakers rang alarm bells. So late Thursday night, the Coast Guard released another policy. In the newer language, the Coast Guard emphasized its, quote, "commitment to prohibiting divisive or hate symbols and flags." So the word hate was back in the description.
SUMMERS: So Coast Guard officials still maintain that instances of things like swastikas displayed on a ship, for example, or in the barracks, will still be investigated, right?
WALSH: Right. You know - and that's not wrong, but, you know, the new manual still lumps these cases in with other types of harassment claims. Now, the old policy went much farther and defined the process for investigating instances of hate. It specifically stated that not every hate incidence could be classified as harassment, which typically means targeting a single person, when, as we know, displaying a white supremist symbol in a common area targets an entire group of people.
And, Juana, it's important to point out that many of these provisions were either put in place or strengthened under the first Trump administration. So the overall tone of the previous policy was more emphatic, setting tough deadlines to begin investigations and requiring problems be reported up the chain of command to an admiral. The new manual also covers sexual harassment and it emphasizes mediation for what it calls low-level claims. And references to transgender Coast Guardsmen were eliminated entirely.
SUMMERS: Do you know if there were specific incidents that the old policy was trying to address?
WALSH: Sure. I mean, the military says this is rare, but in 2021 and in 2023, sailors on board two separate Navy ships found nooses tied over their bunks. There was a 2007 incident involving a noose at the Coast Guard Academy. And any effort to weaken language in the Coast Guard's harassment manual conjures up images of Operation Fouled Anchor, where leadership covered up an investigation into sexual assaults at the Coast Guard Academy.
SUMMERS: So what happens now?
WALSH: Well, the Coast Guard, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, has been without a commandant since President Trump fired Admiral Linda Fagan shortly after he took office, in part because of her focus on DEI initiatives. When Admiral Kevin Lunday took over as acting commandant, he suspended the Coast Guard's harassment policy. Lunday has been nominated to become the next commandant. His nomination hearing was Wednesday, but the committee has not announced when they will vote.
SUMMERS: That's Steve Walsh of member station WHRO. Thank you.
WALSH: Thanks, Juana.
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