Coast Guard denies report it won't classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

11/20/25 3:23 PM ET


The Coast Guard said Thursday a Washington Post report that claimed it will no longer classify swastikas and nooses as hate symbols is “categorically false.”

“The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false. These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy,” Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting Coast Guard commandant, said in a statement.

The Post reported the branch, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will classify swastikas, widely recognized as a symbol of the German Nazi Party and linked to the killing of millions of Jews, as “potentially divisive,” along with the Confederate flag and nooses, citing documents it obtained.

The new policy is set to go into effect Dec. 15, and if the “potentially divisive” symbol is reported, supervisors will have to investigate and could direct it to be removed after advising with the legal office, the Post reported. The DHS strongly pushed back on the report, calling it an “absolute ludicrous lie and unequivocally false.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5615799-coast-guard-denies-report-it-wont-classify-swastikas-nooses-as-hate-symbols/

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REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143568819

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Yeah

[twodogsbarking]

2. Things change and then they change again. Now get Trump to stop death threats.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. They're lying. It's not "categorically false", an "absolute ludicrous lie" or "unequivocally false"

Conduct previously handled as a potential hate incident, including those involving symbols widely identified with oppression or hatred, is processed as a report of harassment in cases with an identified aggrieved individual, or in accordance with Chapter 11 of this Instruction. The terminology “hate incident” is no longer present in policy.

https://media.defense.gov/2025/nov/14/2003820615/-1/-1/0/CI_5350_6A.pdf

They are no longer calling anything a "hate symbol". They can try and say "it's complicated", but to throw around the absolutes they have is a lie. They use the qualifier "potentially" for "divisive". They also point out that a swastika in private quarters wouldn't count as divisive.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

4. They did change the classification from prohibited to devisive.

That's a change for the worse.

[Cha]

5. This is Seriously Important.. If True.. How did

the Bad report get Started?!

A Coast Guard Tweet Denying it..

Link to US Coast Guard Tweet.. I don't do Tweets anymore

Nittersing https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220820095

[sarisataka]

6. The denial is demonstrably false

The Coast Guard stated in its new policy, which was published this month, that the “terminology ‘hate incident’ is no longer present in policy.”

“Conduct previously handled as a potential hate incident, including those involving symbols widely identified with oppression or hatred, is processed as a report of harassment in cases with an identified aggrieved individual, or in accordance with Chapter 11 of this Instruction,” the Coast Guard wrote.

Under the new policy there is no such thing as a "hate incident"; it is "harassment"
The statement that "Swastikas and nooses are no longer hate symbols" is true.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. It's all in the semantics

Link to tweet

U.S. Coast Guard
@USCG
“The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false. These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy. Any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as always, will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished. The Coast Guard remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and professional workplace. Symbols such as swastikas, nooses and other extremist or racist imagery violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant under current policy.”

– Admiral Kevin Lunday, Acting Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard
2:58 PM · Nov 20, 2025