Coast Guard reclassifies swastikas and nooses as hate symbols after backlash

The U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday issued a memo that reclassifies swastikas and nooses as “hate symbols,” in a rapid about-face after facing intense scrutiny for a previous policy change which downplayed their display as merely “potentially divisive.”

The newest memo expressly prohibits the display of nooses, swastikas or “any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups as representations of supremacy, racial or religious intolerance, anti-semitism, or any other improper bias.”

It was released hours after The Washington Post reported that the Coast Guard had approved a policy that downgraded the way the symbols, which are some of the most recognizable emblems of racism and antisemitism, had previously been classified…(Read full story)