Petition to Defend the Legacy of Medgar Evers and Other Civil Rights Icons

We, the undersigned, call on the Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy, and elected officials to immediately halt efforts to rename the USNS Medgar Evers and other vessels honoring civil and human rights leaders.

Renaming these ships is not about military readiness—it is about erasing history. It is a direct attack on the Americans who fought for freedom abroad and justice at home. Medgar Evers, Harvey Milk, Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman, Dolores Huerta, Lucy Stone, Cesar Chavez, and John Lewis are the moral backbone of this nation. Their names belong on our ships because they represent the very ideals our country claims to defend.

This decision comes from political appointees who are more interested in rewriting history than honoring it. If we erase these names, we whitewash the past—and deny future generations the truth about who built this country’s moral conscience.

Medgar Evers enlisted at 17 to serve in a segregated Army during WWII. He risked his life transporting fuel and ammunition across enemy lines. He came home, faced American racism, and kept fighting—for voting rights, desegregation, and equality. He was assassinated in his own driveway because he dared to believe in American democracy.

As the Evers family declared in a June 4 statement:

“Renaming the USNS Medgar Evers is not only malicious—it is despicable… This is a ‘spit in the face’ to a man who fought for his country both at home and abroad.”

As we mark what would have been Medgar Evers’ 100th birthday, we must meet this moment with courage and clarity. We will not allow his legacy—or the legacies of others who gave everything in the fight for justice—to be erased.