ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 21: A U.S. Coast Guard cutter sits docked at Coast Guard Island Alameda on November 21, 2025 in Alameda, California. In response to mounting public and congressional backlash, the U.S. Coast Guard reversed a proposed policy that would have called swastikas and nooses “potentially divisive,” reinstating a strict prohibition on those symbols as “divisive or hate symbols” under its updated guidance. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The U.S. Coast Guard reclassified swastikas and nooses as “hate symbols” after intense backlash for a previous policy that changed their designation to “potentially divisive.”
The Coast Guard had signed off on a policy on November 13 that downgraded the classification of symbols such as swastikas and nooses, according to a report from the Washington Post. They were instead called “potentially divisive,” and included “any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups as representations of supremacy, racial or religious intolerance, or other bias.”…