The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) has established an “Artwork Working Group” to develop more inclusive artwork for Naval offices.
Internal communications obtained by The Daily Wire show that ONI created a “diversity and inclusion artwork working group” to “address the issue” of inclusion in artwork within the naval offices. According to emails, the group began after a virtual diversity town hall in 2020 wherein an ONI employee “raised a concern about how the artwork on display throughout the [National Maritime Intelligence Center] did not represent the diversity of people serving in the Navy.”
The National Maritime Intelligence Center is located in the Washington, D.C., suburbs and is an operations center for the Navy, Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard.
Thus far, the artwork group has collaborated with an internal historian to “identify additional artwork from the Navy History and Heritage Command’s Navy Art Collection.” The group has also obtained artwork to “acknowledge the contributions of Hispanic, African, and Native Americans to our Navy and the Nation.”
In an email from the ONI Chief of Staff, officers were encouraged to submit any suggestions that might “make everyone at ONI feel valued and welcome through displays and/or artwork.”
The Navy and other branches of the U.S. military have been swept into the politically “woke” movement under the leadership of President Joe Biden. In the first month of Biden’s presidency, the Navy released mandated training on “eradicating extremism.” The training claims that Black Lives Matter is not a political or extremist organization.
The Daily Wire reported:
According to a slew of declassified memos, the Department of Defense is requiring the Navy to host anti-extremist training following the Capitol riots and two incidents of internal problematic behavior. The training clarifies that the Navy “prohibits any member of the naval services from participating in any organization advocating supremacist causes, advocating illegal discrimination, or advocating the use of force or violence against the U.S. government or a state government.”
Military service academies have embraced the use of “anti-racist” and critical race theory teachings as well. According to the Washington Free Beacon, administrators at West Point adapted critical race theory into curriculum and admission practices. The prestigious military academy outlined a five-year diversity plan aimed at appealing to the “sensibilities of America’s younger generation.”
The military’s newfound “wokeness” was criticized by several high-profile Republicans, including Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Ted Cruz, after the U.S. Army released a series of cartoon recruitment ads. One of the videos featured an LGBT rights march and a lesbian wedding.
The video describes the story of a soldier named “Emma” who was raised by two mothers.
“Although I had a fairly typical childhood — took ballet, played violin — I also marched for equality,” the woman said as the ad showed a cartoon of an LGBT rights march.
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