Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting Coast Guard commandant, said the Coast Guard is committed to ‘fostering a safe, respectful and professional workplace.’
The Coast Guard on Nov. 20 made clear that swastikas and nooses are banned within the agency, after earlier publishing a document that said it was up to leaders to decide whether to remove them.
“Divisive or hate symbols and flags are prohibited. These symbols and flags include, but are not limited to, the following: a noose, a swastika, and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups as representations of supremacy, racial or religious intolerance, anti-semitism, or any other improper bias,” Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting Coast Guard commandant, said in a memorandum on Nov. 20.
The Coast Guard previously said, in a policy first rolled out in 2019, that displaying swastikas and nooses was a potential hate incident and that there was no benefit from displaying the divisive symbols.
In a Nov. 13 update, the Coast Guard said that nooses and swastikas were “potentially divisive symbols.” That document noted that Confederate flags remained banned but that the removal of potentially divisive symbols was subject to the discretion of commanders, commanding officers, officers-in-charge, and supervisors.
Media outlets on Thursday found the document and reported that the Coast Guard was no longer banning the display of swastikas and nooses, prompting Lunday to issue the updated policy.
“The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses, or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false. These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy. Any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as always, will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished,” Lunday said in a statement.
“The Coast Guard remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and professional workplace. Symbols such as swastikas, nooses and other extremist or racist imagery violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant under current policy.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, of which the Coast Guard is part, also said on social media that the reports were false.
The Coast Guard and the department did not respond to requests for more information.
