The U.S. Coast Guard soon may raise the Nazi Swastika on ships, in a new ruling that the hate symbol offers them utility as a “potentially divisive” tool.
…the Coast Guard will classify the Nazi-era insignia as “potentially divisive” under its new guidelines. The policy, set to take effect Dec. 15, similarly downgrades the classification of nooses and the Confederate flag…
Nazi-era? How ironic to say that while writing about its modern utility.
Clearly divisive because they are hate symbols, enabling these things means the Coast Guard intentionally is creating a clear division between its white nationalists and everyone else.
Further clarification also claimed there was a “streamline” benefit to enabling white supremacist symbols.
In a statement attributed to Adm. Kevin Lunday, the service’s acting commandant, the Coast Guard declined to address why its new policy no longer characterizes swastikas, nooses and the Confederate flag as hate symbols. Lunday affirmed, though, that such symbols “and other extremist or racist imagery violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant under current policy.”
Later Thursday, Lunday sent the entire Coast Guard an email calling the symbols “prohibited,” but the new policy as worded left open the possibility that they could be displayed without removal. His email said the updated guidelines are meant to “streamline administrative requirements.”
Legalizing hate symbols would, indeed, reduce any requirements to address them.
