Florida deputy’s killing of Black airman renews debate on police killings and race
Associated PressWASHINGTON — In 2020, the top enlisted leader of the Air Force went public with his fear of waking up to the news that a Black airman had been killed by a white police officer. “Whatever the race of this deputy, whether he’s Black, white, Hispanic, whatever — in this instance where this deputy saw a Black person with a weapon and immediately used deadly force, instead of calmly and reflectively assessing the situation, this is it.” Williams’ NAACP chapter is drafting state legislation it wants to name after Fortson. “If you’re a white male officer in the United States Air Force, you don’t wake up every day thinking about race,” Wright said. “We have Black airmen and officers that wake up every day and they go into rooms and they’re the only Black person.” He said commanders need to understand the toll this takes. “I don’t know that commanders could say anything to airmen that would necessarily be helpful about, ‘if the police knock on your door, do this, don’t do that,’ ” Wright said.
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