Then-Lt. Daniel “Chappie” James poses with his P-51 fighter during the Korean War. James, who became a four-star general, also served in World War II and Vietnam. The Pentagon recently removed James’ portrait from its Air Force Art Gallery.

This year, I’ll be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States by acknowledging the service of Black men and women who fought for a nation that still treats them as second-class citizens.

No racial group has been assailed by a barrage of insults as much as Black people — and that’s been especially true during the second Trump administration. Among these insults, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s questioning the valor of Black service members might be the most hurtful. 

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Hegseth has intervened to block or delay the promotions of more than a dozen Black and female senior officers, as Adam Serwer noted recently in the Atlantic. Our secretary of war, as Hegseth prefers to be called, has presided over the restoration of tributes to Confederate soldiers, traitors to the United States who fought a war predicated on maintaining and expanding the institution of slavery.” Under Hegseth’s watch, the Pentagon also removed the portrait of the first Black four-star general, Chappie James, from the Air Force Art Gallery. James is a war hero who flew 179 missions for our country during World War II, in Korea and in Vietnam.

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Black service members showed their bravery in every war from the Revolution to the present. Even........

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