Florida lawmaker’s killing of black airman renews debate over police killings and race – Queen City News

WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2020, the Air Force’s top enlisted man expressed fear of waking up to the news that a Black airman had been killed by a white police officer.

Then, four years later, a Florida deputy shot and killed Senior Airman Roger Fortson in his home.

“I doubt that this police officer knew or cared that Roger was an airman. What he saw was a young, black man,” retired Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth O. Wright said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

After George Floyd was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, Wright, who like Floyd is Black, felt compelled to speak publicly about the fears he and his younger troops had. It didn’t seem to matter how hard he worked to serve his country. There were still police officers who only saw him as a threat.

The national outcry over Floyd’s death prompted Wright to lead several initiatives to better address racial issues within the Air Force. But according to their own statements, they didn’t go far enough. After Fortson’s death, he wonders if things will ever change.

“Right now, in the midst of what happened to Roger, it’s a big deal. People talk about it, the Air Force takes care of it. But in a few weeks it will go away, right?” Wright said.

The investigation into Fortson’s death is ongoing and the sheriff’s office has not released the name or race of the officer involved.

On Wednesday, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden traveled to Hurlburt Field, where Fortson served, and met with Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, chief of Air Force Special Operations Command, to discuss next steps.

Sabu Williams, president of the Okaloosa County NAACP chapter, was there and said he did not leave with the feeling that the sheriff’s office believed Fortson’s race was a factor in the shooting.

But “bias certainly played a role in this,” Williams said. “From my perspective, we feel like we don’t get the benefit of the doubt. It seems to be a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ kind of thing.”

In a statement posted to his Facebook page late Wednesday, Bauernfeind said the meeting with the sheriff’s office was productive and that the command would host a town hall meeting in the coming days to further discuss the shooting and what to do next.

There is no government-managed national data collection system that tracks deaths caused by law enforcement officers. The FBI has a database, but it is voluntary, and fewer than two-thirds of local, state, tribal and federal agencies provided data to it last year. In any case, there is no breakdown by race.

But databases maintained by private organizations have found that fatal police operations have increased every year since Floyd’s killing and that those killings disproportionately affect black people.

Two databases, one by The Washington Post and another by Campaign Zero, which is run by academics and activists who advocate for police accountability, have found that while more white people are killed in police operations overall, black people are disproportionately killed be killed by the police. Blacks make up about 12% of the U.S. population but account for about a quarter of police killings in each of the databases.

At the meeting in Hurlburt, Williams asked the sheriff’s office to conduct de-escalation training and unconscious bias training, which he said the sheriff supported.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement posted on Facebook that it had received the local NAACP’s “list of demands” and understood their concerns. At the meeting at the airfield, the sheriff “emphasized his commitment to doing the right thing,” it said.

Michael P. Heiskell, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the deputy’s race plays no role in determining whether unconscious bias played a role.

“Whatever the race of that deputy, whether he’s black, white, Hispanic or whatever – in this case, this deputy saw a black person with a gun and immediately used deadly force, rather than calmly and thoughtfully handling the situation.” to estimate, that’s it.”

Williams’ NAACP chapter is drafting state legislation that it wants to name after Fortson. The bill would require police to use de-escalatory language before using force when encountering someone with a weapon who is not being held in a threatening position.

Released police body camera footage shows Fortson had his gun in his hand when he opened his front door, but the barrel was pointed at the ground. Within seconds, the police officer shot him and only then asked him to drop the weapon.

“A little de-escalation or discussion” by the deputy could have given the airman the opportunity to put the weapon down, Williams said. “He wasn’t given any time.”

MaCharie Dunbar, a board member of the Black Veterans Project, a national organization founded to combat racial inequality in the experiences of black service members, said he wondered whether it would have made a difference if Fortson had been in uniform.

“One thing has proven true time and time again: When you’re Black in America, it doesn’t matter what kind of job you have, what clothes you wear, what car you drive, what house you live in,” said Dunbar. who retired from the Air Force and was stationed at Hurlburt Field. “At the end of the day, you’re just Black. And there are some who hold to the ideology that black people are dangerous.”

Fortson’s shooting came amid increasing military attention to racial issues within its ranks. In recent years, internal reviews have found significant disparities in promotion opportunities and unequal military punishments.

However, there was significant opposition to these efforts, with far-right members of Congress criticizing them as “woke.” Congress this year set caps on what the Pentagon can pay experts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

Wright said the resistance has helped silence much discussion on the issue, and right now the most helpful thing for commanders is to listen.

“When you’re a white male officer in the United States Air Force, you don’t wake up every day and think about race,” Wright said. “We have black airmen and officers who wake up every day, walk into rooms and are the only black people.”

He said commanders need to understand the toll this is taking.

“It comes with stress and anxiety. It goes hand in hand with the feeling of not belonging. And you know, most of us are taught to just assimilate, right? You know, don’t complain, don’t be the outcast. Don’t be the outsider because sometimes you will be labeled as an angry black man.”

If airmen feel like they aren’t supported within their own units, it’s unlikely they would have the confidence to open up to commanders about an issue as big as Fortson’s shooting, he said.

Wright is now thinking about writing another column and perhaps revisiting the topic. But he’s not sure what needs to be done to prevent a future incident. Bringing sheriff’s deputies to the base to help them view black airmen differently won’t solve the problem without major societal changes, he said. Asking commanders to have with black airmen the equivalent of “the conversation” parents have with their black children about encounters with police is also not a solution.

“I don’t know that commanders could say anything to Airmen that would necessarily be helpful: ‘If the police come knocking on your door, do this, don’t do that,'” Wright said. “Young African-American men know their stuff, right? You already know the story. And yet it’s not enough.”

Wright has two sons, ages 22 and 27. His heart breaks for Fortson’s mother as she buries her 23-year-old son on Friday.

“That could have easily been one of my sons,” Wright said.

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Lauer reported from Philadelphia. Aaron Morrison in New York City contributed to this report.