UMN American Studies Book Receives “Distinction” of Being Banned by U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth at Naval Academy

Anyone who believes in free, independent thought should be alarmed by the removal of 381 books from the Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library last week that were alleged to run up against President Donald Trump’s January executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion materials. The removed books come from disciplines such as sociology, history, and literary studies and cover topics such as racism, gender identity and gender non-conforming people. It’s difficult to make sense of the removal of every book on this list, so I focus here on one that explores the narrative of white male injury.

Historically, authoritarian regimes have banned books to suppress dissent and shape collective thought. Given that many of these banned books are comprehensive studies of past and continuing racism in the United States, it appears that Trump loyalist and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who ordered their removal intends to erase these scholars’ research. The preferred storyline deployed by such loyalists is that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs such as affirmative action are unfair because they hurt white men. My own banned book, Racing for Innocence: Whiteness, Gender, and the Backlash Against Affirmative Action, argues that this anti-affirmative narrative became a predominant news story in the 1990s, but it was not supported by evidence. As I discuss in my research, a 1995 government study conducted by the US Labor Department found that actual cases of “reverse discrimination” against white men were rare, less than two percent; and in those cases “the courts provided immediate relief.” At the time, the print news media paid scant attention to this important research and continued to report on white male injury as if it were a common experience. This narrative, often promulgated by right-wing think tanks, helped create the popular perception, but not the reality of white male victimhood.

By suppressing research, Trump loyalists effectively silence dissent to their false narratives, eradicate concrete evidence that contradicts their views, and contribute to lies that foster resentment against people of color. Adherence to facts may be too much to expect of the current administration, but in colleges and research universities arguments are based on evidence. Independent thought and debate remain the cornerstone of our work. The very power of our teaching lies in providing students with new ideas, concepts, and research that may proffer critical, alternative frameworks. Students at the Naval Academy should be free to explore this scholarship.