I was shocked and upset to learn recently that Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was, under orders of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, pulled from the shelves of Nimitz Library on the campus of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. As if the removal of this seminal text of American literature were not egregious enough, in this “DEI purge,” staff also jettisoned “Memorializing the Holocaust,” by Janet Jacobs’ and “Jack Johnson: Rebel Sojourner,” by Theresa Runstedtler.
…
Nearly four hundred other books were purged, prompting members of the House Armed Services Committee to demand that the Navy, “stop the removal of books from the service academy’s library.” Every American should make the same demand. Moreover they should urge their representatives in Congress to also demand that Hegseth return the purged books to the library.