Press Releases

Today, Congressman James R. Walkinshaw (VA-11), member of the House Homeland Security Committee and Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), member of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, led 28 of their colleagues in a letter condemning a U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) policy that was set to take effect on December 15, 2025, reclassifying swastikas, nooses, and the Confederate flag as 'potentially divisive' instead of as ‘hate symbols.’ The lawmakers also call on acting Coast Guard Commandant Kevin Lunday to explain how the previously planned policy change came about, confirm whether reports are now subject to an arbitrary 45-day deadline, and explain how the branch will rebuild trust with Black and Jewish Coast Guard members.

The lawmakers wrote, “We write to condemn to the highest degree the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) policy that was set to take effect on December 15, 2025, classifying swastikas, nooses, and the Confederate flag as 'potentially divisive' instead of as the clear antisemitic and racial hate symbols they are.”

While acknowledging the USCG has since announced an updated policy, they condemned the fact that the change in policy was ever considered and pressed USCG on the reported 45-day deadline to report such incidents saying, “While USCG’s previous policy did not include a deadline to report an incident, the change would create a cutoff that may have a clear chilling effect on members of the USCG who in many instances are deployed for longer period than 45 days.”

They closed by calling for USCG to report to Congress on “the series of events within the USCG that created this level of uncertainty about hate symbol policy,” to answer whether the updated policy now includes a 45-day deadline, and how “the USCG [intends] to rebuild trust with Black and Jewish Coast Guard members following this series of events.”

Read the full letter here. 

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