{"id":67413,"date":"2018-10-24T20:31:20","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T20:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/24\/union-demands-investigation-into-va-officials-painting-honoring-kkk-founder\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:05:07","slug":"union-demands-investigation-into-va-officials-painting-honoring-kkk-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2018\/10\/24\/union-demands-investigation-into-va-officials-painting-honoring-kkk-founder\/","title":{"rendered":"Union demands investigation into VA official who displayed painting of KKK leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Union officials are calling for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/06\/23\/trump-signs-va-accountability-measure-into-law\/\" target=_blank>a full investigation<\/a> into a senior Veterans Affairs official who prominently displayed a picture of a Ku Klux Klan leader in his office, accusing department leadership of ignoring the problematic behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe prominent display of images of Confederate leaders in the workplace is never acceptable,\u201d said J. David Cox Sr., national president of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2017\/10\/17\/federal-union-slams-va-health-reforms-as-dangerous-for-vets\/\" target=_blank>American Federation of Government Employees<\/a>. \u201cThe actions of this official cross the line, and we\u2019re calling on the VA to get to the bottom of what\u2019s going on within their leadership at this facility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/i-thought-it-was-very-nice-va-official-showcased-portrait-of-kkks-first-grand-wizard\/2018\/10\/23\/f49434ca-d6c0-11e8-aeb7-ddcad4a0a54e_story.html?utm_term=.d162204fa064\" target=_blank>the Washington Post<\/a> reported that David Thomas Sr., deputy executive director of VA\u2019s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, had a picture of Nathan Bedford Forrest \u2014 a Confederate general who became the white supremacist group\u2019s first grand wizard \u2014 displayed in his office for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The picture was removed this week after the newspaper confronted Thomas about racial background of the portrait. Thomas claimed no real knowledge of Forrest\u2019 background, saying he displayed the painting because \u201cit was just a beautiful print that I had purchased, and I thought it was very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/09\/26\/wilkie-touts-a-calmer-reformed-va-in-his-first-congressional-test\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_18269745000658.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Wilkie touts a calmer, reformed VA in his first congressional test<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Just two months into his tenure leading VA, the new secretary promised significant culture changes for the department.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Employees in Thomas\u2019 office \u2014 which includes numerous African-Americans \u2014 have been circulating a petition demanding removal of the painting prior to the news story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response, VA spokesman Curt Cashour said Thomas had not received any complaints about the painting prior to the Washington Post story. He said Secretary Robert Wilkie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.diversity.va.gov\/policy\/files\/EEO_Policy_Statement.pdf\" target=_blank>has taken steps <\/a>to make sure VA is welcoming to all employees, but \u201cachieving the secretary\u2019s goal relies in large part on individual judgment and common sense of employees at all levels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf an employee finds a work of art on display in a private office offensive, the employee should bring it to the attention of his or her supervisor, who will take steps to handle the issue quickly and appropriately as needed. That didn\u2019t happen here. Mr. Thomas received no complaints from his fellow employees and only learned about these concerns from the Washington Post. Mr. Thomas immediately took down the print in question \u2013 a work by noted historical artist Don Stivers \u2013 and the matter is resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AFGE officials disagree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is about more than one portrait \u2014 this is about ensuring all employees can work free from discrimination and intimidation,\u201d said Jeremy Lannan, head of the union\u2019s civil rights department. \u201cWe have serious questions as to whether that\u2019s possible under Mr. Thomas\u2019 leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AFGE said employees in the office had previously filed three claims of racial discrimination against Thomas, and has requested additional information from the department on the office\u2019s morale and disciplinary actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/07\/17\/va-union-leaders-spar-over-impact-of-new-accountability-law\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_8008.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">VA, union leaders spar over impact of new accountability law<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Administration officials have repeatedly hailed the measure, but critics call it demoralizing and unfair to lower-level VA employees.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The union has been a frequent critic of President Donald Trump and VA management in recent years, opposing a host of moves designed to more easily fire civil employees and limit union officials work on behalf of members during work hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas began working at VA in 2013, during former President Barack Obama\u2019s administration. The Washington Post report said employees complained that Thomas displayed the painting in previous offices before his most recent promotion to the deputy executive director role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The painting was removed after a Washington Post story earlier this week detailing employee complaints about the racial issues it was causing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":38248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,12,26,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-67413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"WFPG5TT27NBLPFZI677GNR5DH4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2018\/10\/24\/union-demands-investigation-into-va-officials-painting-honoring-kkk-founder\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Union demands investigation into VA official who displayed painting of KKK leader - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The painting was removed after a Washington Post story earlier this week detailing employee complaints about the racial issues it was causing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Union demands investigation into VA official who displayed painting of KKK leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The painting was removed after a Washington Post story earlier this week detailing employee complaints about the racial issues it was 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