U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols

MSN ^ | 11/20/2025 | Tara Copp and Michelle Boorstein

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

The U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika — an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II — as a hate symbol, according to a new policy that takes effect next month.

Instead, the Coast Guard will classify the Nazi-era insignia as “potentially divisive” under its new guidelines. The policy, set to take effect Dec. 15, similarly downgrades the classification of nooses and the Confederate flag, though display of the latter remains banned, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

Certain historical displays or artwork where the Confederate flag is a minor element are still permissible, according to the policy.

Though the Coast Guard is not part of the Defense Department, the service has been reworking its policies to align with the Trump administration’s changing tolerances for hazing and harassment within the U.S. military. In September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed a review and overhaul of those policies, calling the military’s existing standards “overly broad” and saying they jeopardize troops’ combat readiness.

The Coast Guard declined to provide comment before publication of this report. Subsequent to publication, Coast Guard spokeswoman Jennifer Plozai said by phone that the service disagreed with The Post’s reporting but intended to look into the policy changes.

“We will be reviewing the language,” Plozai said.

In a statement attributed to Adm. Kevin Lunday, the service’s acting commandant, the Coast Guard declined to address why its new policy no longer characterizes swastikas, nooses and the Confederate flag as hate symbols. Lunday affirmed, though, that such...

---

TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: startmovinggoalposts

[tumblindice]

—an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II—
Tara and Michelle must have shared an energy drink.

[InsidiousMongo]

Or the same fentanyl supplier.

[kawhill]

All I could come up with is this, Yarden plays basketball pretty soon.

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016682878/

[Bikkuri]

[glennaro]

Well, since -- without exception -- all symbols can be "divisive", it's clear that it's now "no holds barred" in the ol' US Coast Guard ... the leadership of which clearly doesn't understand there are levels of "divisiveness" -- and of the accompanying reaction -- of the myriad symbols (although lumping naziism and KKK-ism (divisive to a couple billion people) with, say, flying the American flag (divisive to a minority of ungrateful Americans) is potentially dangerous.

[ByteMercenary]

“... an emblem of fascism and white supremacy...”

In the first ten minutes of “The Da Vinci Code” (2006) one can learn that swastika style crosses have been around for several hundred years, used by many civilizations and were not symbols of hate and oppression.

Why do leftists seem to think that history began when they were born?

[faithhopecharity]

So maybe USCG will send out Happy Valentines Day greeting cards either Nazi swaztikas instead of hearts? 💞

[Delta 21]

I was “potentially divisive” my entire military career.

[Cronos]

The Hakenkreuz was taken from the millenia old Swastik of India (dating back to at least 2000 BC).

And the Nazis were not white supremacists, but Norduc supremacists. They slaughtered blond blue eyed Poles

[NorthMountain]

And the Nazis were not white supremacists, but Norduc supremacists. They slaughtered blond blue eyed Poles

They viewed Slavic people of any nationality as "untermenschen". Oddly enough, Hitler's racial ideology didn't see Italians as much better ... might give some perspective on Italian soldiers' lack of interest in fighting for fascism or national socialism.

[ansel12]

“”””” an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II “””””

A lot of those died fighting yellow supremacy fighting under the symbol of the rising sun.

[ansel12]

Why do the Italians escape the stench of Fascism and WWII, I think most Americans probably think they were on our side rather than run by Mussolini and on Hitler’s side.

[Reily]

Yet he viewed his Japanese alliance positively and admired the martial ardor of Japanese soldiers.

Even his racial prejudices were inconsistent!

[packrat35]

Didn’t New Jersey just elect a DEMOCRAT with Nazi tattoos?

[Mr. Blond]

Hundreds? The oldest known swastika is a 10,000 year old bone carving from Ukraine.

[NorthMountain]

Why do the Italians escape the stench of Fascism and WWII

They weren't particularly enthusiastic about it, they weren't running concentration camps, many of them did their best to shield Jews or help them escape Europe ...

And when given the opportunity to say "fcck this" ... they dragged Mussolini through the streets, killed him, and hanged his corpse by the ankles from the canopy of an Esso station.

There was no such scene in Germany, or USSR, or China, or Cambodia ...

Romanians deserve credit for making their version of it.

Italian fascism deserves opprobrium as do all totalitarian ideologies, but Italians of the fascist era do not belong in the same category as hitlerist germans or stalinist russians or maoist chinese.

[ansel12]

Coast Guard denies report it won’t classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
by Filip Timotija - 11/20/25 3:23 PM
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5615799-coast-guard-denies-report-it-wont-classify-swastikas-nooses-as-hate-symbols/

[FreedomPoster]

Maine U.S. Senate candidate has a totenkopf, a death’s head, tattoo associated with the SS in WWII.

Graham “Maine Kampf” Platner

[packrat35]

OK, that’s the one.