U.S. Department of Defense restores Jackie Robinson story on website, admits it was taken down in DEI purge

The United States Department of Defense has restored an article on its website honoring Jackie Robinson after having removed it in an effort to purge "DEI" (diversity, equity and inclusion) content. 

As explained on the now-restored page, Robinson served in the military during World War II. He later broke the color line in Major League Baseball, becoming the first Black player in MLB in 1947. The DOD page honoring Robinson was taken down recently, and its removal (along with removal of other articles) caused backlash online. 

In response, the DOD has issued the following statement while restoring the page. 

Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee airman, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others -- we salute them for their strong and in many cases heroic service to our country, full stop. We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex. We do only by recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like ever other American who has worn the uniform. 

DEI -- Discriminatory Equity Ideology does the opposite. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services' core warfighting mission.

We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed -- either deliberately or by mistake -- that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content so it recognizes our heroes for their dedicated service alongside their fellow Americans, period.

After returning from WWII, Robinson played in 34 games for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945 in the Negro American League before signing with the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. He played a year in the minors before being called up to Major League Baseball in 1947. In his 10 seasons with the Dodgers, he hit .311/.409/.474 (140 OPS+) with a Rookie of the Year Award, MVP and batting title. He was part of six pennant-winning teams and the 1955 World Series champions. He also led the league in steals twice, on-base percentage once, sac bunts twice and WAR three times. 

Bottom line, he was one of the greatest players who ever lived and he did so while breaking the color line from what was previously a segregated league. He also bravely served his country in war.