On Jan. 21, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program in all departments of the federal government. DEI programs strive to provide opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, and other underrepresented groups. By ending DEI, diversity training programs are ended and many diversity leaders, people who run the diversity programs, are put on leave or fired altogether. 

CBS News states that on Jan. 23, the United States Air Force immediately responded by suspending all diversity lessons. They were put on review to see if  they follow the guidelines of the executive order. The Air Force has received a lot of backlash for these suspensions, with NBC News pointing out that videos about the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airfirce Service Pilots (WASPs) were parts of the suspended curriculum. Both groups were vital in the WWII fight against Germany and Japan. 

The National World War II Museum wrote that the Tuskegee Airmen were about 1,000 Black men who volunteered to be trained as pilots, navigators, and bombardiers during World War II. The men were trained at a segregated air field in Tuskegee, Alabama. They fought against Germany and flew patrols and escorted American bombers over Italy. 

The WASPs, according to Texas Woman’s University, were women aviators who ferried planes from factories to their embarking location. They were created after the attack on Pearl Harbor because there was a shortage of male pilots to ferry the planes. These women were vital in getting airplanes to their necessary locations in order for the United States to win the war. 

Lt. Gen. Brian S. Robinson, Air Education and Training Command commander, stated that the curriculum would continue to be taught and only one group of trainees had the training delayed, according to CBS News. As promised, the curriculum returned on January 27. 

Some state that the problem with these videos is that they are part of the Air Force diversity curriculum, which will be ended. Others think that these videos will continue to be shown, just not in diversity classes. Many are in agreement that the valor of the Tuskegee Airmen and the WASPs needs to be taught so they are hopeful that the Air Force will continue showing their videos, either in diversity seminars or not.