Quote:A giant Black Lives Matter (BLM) flag was allowed to be prominently displayed at the barracks of a U.S. naval installation in Africa, according to an allegation by a military whistleblower to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).

The complaint was submitted through a whistleblower complaint page set him by the senator and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) for service members to report examples of bias against conservatives in the military.

The whistleblower wrote that while deployed to a combat zone in Africa, there was a giant Black Lives Matter flag displayed at a U.S. naval installation. The whistleblower, who name was withheld, wrote:

In the barracks area of the installation, a massive BLM flag had been hung from the third story of the barracks, draping over both the second and first rows under it. The flag was probably fifty feet long, by fifteen feet wide. In addition to this, there were many service members that were wearing BLM t-shirts that sported additional BLM slogans, doo rags, and hats, all with BLM plastered on them. I am opposed to the BLM movement for many reasons, and seeing a constant reminder of this group daily, was offensive and distracting to me, especially in a combat zone. I also feel that it is a very politically driven and polarizing group, that has no business being advertised on a military base. There were also multiple people that I worked with, that felt the same way as I did about the group. I asked an individual that had influence on the base and with the base commander, why this was being allowed. He said it was the view of the commander that this movement was not political, and non-partisan, therefore, he had no issue with its advertisement. I asked him then if it would be ok if a hung a massive make America great again trump 2020 flag, and wore hats and memorabilia for the MAGA movement. He told me that would not be allowed, as that would be a very political statement, and cause a lot of offense to some people. I told him this seemed very one sided and hypocritical, and he said it was the commanders [sic] decision, and not his. I share this because I don’t think it was right then, or now, that there is such a double standard, when it comes to these issues. I felt powerless to affect any change, and just had to try and let it go and deal with it everyday.