KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2014 First lady Jill Biden met with Kansas City-area students Wednesday at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum as they explored the Missouri-born president\u2019s decision to desegregate the U.S. military, as diversity efforts in the military have once again become a flashpoint in Congress.<\/p>\n
Biden, who is a community college professor, visited the library to learn about their civic literacy programs in her second trip to the Kansas City area in two years. She is scheduled to speak at an event in support of President Joe Biden\u2019s 2024 reelection campaign early Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n
At the Truman Library, the first lady stressed the importance of civics education, saying she believed there aren\u2019t enough people who know and understand how the U.S. government works, from the federal government down to the local level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people really have a negative opinion of government, they don\u2019t see the hard work, they don\u2019t see the perseverance,\u201d Biden said. \u201cThey don\u2019t see all the thought and the hard work and the critical thinking that go into each and every decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden was joined by local leaders, including Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, Jackson County Executive Frank White and Independence Mayor Rory Rowland.<\/p>\n
The first lady met with Kansas City-area teachers who discussed the ways they\u2019ve worked with the library to teach about civics and history.<\/p>\n
She then visited with William Chrisman High School students after they completed an activity in the museum\u2019s White House Decision Center, which guides students through a role playing exercise confronting one of Truman\u2019s most difficult decisions \u2013 an executive order desegregating the military.<\/p>\n
The decision was celebrated in Washington in July during a three day symposium, which came at a time when Congress is once again battling over diversity initiatives in the military.<\/p>\n
Biden sat in a replica of the White House briefing room while she heard from three students who played the role of president during the exercise and listened to their reasoning on whether to issue the executive order.<\/p>\n
Truman attended William Chrisman High School, part of the Independence School District, in the late 1890s, then called Independence High School, when he was growing up in the Kansas City suburb.<\/p>\n
After the demonstration, Biden stressed the importance of learning about government and urged the students to think about running for office one day, saying it was a worthwhile profession that often gets portrayed negatively. Only one student raised their hand when asked if they\u2019d considered public office.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a politician is an honorable career,\u201d Biden said. \u201cAnd so I want you to take the critical skills that you\u2019ve learned through this opportunity and when you hear something, don\u2019t just take everything on face value, research it, look into it, look at other people\u2019s points of view, so that you can really look with a critical eye and what\u2019s really going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The focus on Truman\u2019s decision to desegregate the military comes after the Truman Library Institute held a three day symposium in Washington in July celebrating the 75th anniversary of the executive order, including a speech from President Joe Biden on the opening night.<\/p>\n
Biden used his speech to denounce Sen. Tommy Tuberville\u2019s blockade of more than 300 of Biden\u2019s military nominees over the Department of Defense\u2019s abortion policy, which allows military personnel serving in states that ban abortion \u2013 like Missouri \u2013 to travel out of state for the procedure and will pay for the travel.<\/p>\n
But 75 years after Truman signed the executive order, Congress is still battling over diversity initiatives in the military. Conservative lawmakers \u2013 like Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican \u2013 have criticized the Department of Defense\u2019s diversity, equity and inclusion office.<\/p>\n
Republicans are pushing to remove funding for the military\u2019s diversity efforts in the annual defense spending bill, even as military leaders have said diversity efforts are important to help the military reflect the population.<\/p>\n
Both Schmitt and Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, were among the minority of senators who voted against Biden\u2019s pick for chairman of the joint chiefs of staff \u2014 Air Force General C.Q. Brown, who was the first Black man to be named chief of staff for the Air Force in 2020.<\/p>\n
Both cited Brown\u2019s support for the military\u2019s diversity efforts.<\/p>\n
The first lady ended her trip to the museum with a visit to Truman\u2019s grave site on the library grounds, where she left a bouquet made of clippings from the White House garden.<\/p>\n
She then left for a fundraiser in support of Biden\u2019s 2024 reelection campaign, at the home of Dan Nilsen, who founded the Kansas City-area event production company Bishop-McCann.<\/p>\n
The White House did not say who is hosting the fundraiser for the Biden Victory Fund, the joint fundraising committee between Biden\u2019s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.<\/p>\n
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