On May 3, 2024 United States Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson died in his Florida apartment, a victim of a Deputy Sheriff who put 6 bullets into his body as a result of entering the wrong home. Although the word from the Sheriff’s office is that it was self defense, camera footage taken at the time shows this to be untrue.
The Black community from which the 23-year-old came also knows otherwise. Being Black in America continues to be a great risk to life inside or outside the home.
The Air Force family from the 1st Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Air Force Base, Florida and elsewhere looked like a “wave of blue” as it occupied a large section of space at the young man’s funeral. Although we do not know him, his loss is personal to our family who has experienced the value of service in the Air Force and the tragedy of losing one of our own.
I was just 17 and 2 weeks when I became a member of the Air Force. My experience in the service transformed my life and opened possibilities that became a reality.
The service also “opened my eyes” to the real world of race relations. It could not be any another way as it included people from diverse families, regions and human experiences.
Although I was taught by my elders and kind of accepted being a second class citizen, I rarely felt it directly because migrant worker communities tend to be closed to outsiders. Coming to Denver and being raised on the North side continued the isolation as the people in that part of the city generally looked like me.
It was in the Air Force that I came face to face with people that were proud to let me know that they were superior, that the South would rise again and that they were members of an institution called the Ku Klux Klan. I was apprehensive at first until I realized that they also came from poor families and had such tangible human flaws that diminished their presence in my mind.
I left the service after having achieved my educational goals and went on to meet new challenges like a university education, the Civil Rights Movements of African Americans and Chicanos and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement that hurt so many veterans. Most of all, I came to realize that I could no longer tolerate discrimination and unequal treatment.
I see myself in a service represented by Airman Fortson that had achieved the merit, rank and foundation as an outstanding American. However, in a sense, it was predictable that a state like Florida that seeks to revise history for the benefit of its southern past, has people in authority thinking that it is alright to abuse and kill folks simply because they are Black.
In the years we have lived during the 21st Century, the American military has continued to be called upon to defend our country again and again. To promote excellence in its work, the institution has implemented policies to promote leadership with a focus on minority participation.
Now, all of that work seems to be a hollow echo of what could have been and still be. A young man, dressed in his Air Force blues, has been laid to rest as yet another victim of oppression.
The failures found in the history of our country are many and tragic. Yet it always has allowed for the people to make changes.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of laVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to news@lavozcolorado.com.
