Death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson sparks debate of police brutality and racism

The airman was fatally shot on May 3rd at his home, 5 miles away from the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The deputy who killed him has been only placed on administrative leave and has not faced any charges yet. The shooting has been under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office. Furthermore, no data about the police officer has been yet released publically.

The policeman shot Roger Fortson six times after Fortson opened the door to his house. Although Fortson kept a gun in his hand, he did not try to use it, footage shows. The reaction of the police deputy was, however, immediate. Fortson's family and lawyers, among them representing George Floyd's family, Ben Crump, started rightly questioning the correctness of the police action. It is worth mentioning that the police officer first shot Fortson six times and then afterward ordered him to drop the gun. Fortson additionally tried to inform the police officer that he had been serving in the Air Force.

Police brutality connected to racism is not a new phenomenon among Americans. The outpour of the situation's understanding occurred after George Floyd's murder in 2020, resulting in the skyrocketing popularity of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The retired Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth O. Wright commented on Airman Fortson's death by saying, "I doubt if that police officer knew or cared that Roger was an airman. What he saw was a young, Black male." Due to the normalization of police abuse and racially motivated justifications for gun violence among police, Wright commented, "Right now, in the midst of what happened to Roger, it's a big deal. People are talking about it. The Air Force is dealing with it. But it will go away in a couple of weeks, right?" He also pointed out the racial discrepancies in the American military, particularly the Air Force, where white people constitute the majority of the air people. Williams commented, "If you’re a white male officer in the United States Air Force, you don’t wake up every day thinking about race." The privilege of not being an outcast due to skin color further does not result in growing levels of stress or anxiety, as also Williams condemns.

Sabu Williams, president of the Okaloosa County NAACP branch, listened to Sherrif Aden's talk about the next steps in the investigation concerning Fortson's death. However, Williams was convinced that the sheriff had not taken Fortson's race as one of the determining factors leading to the abuse and fatal outcome of the intervention. Williams claimed that racial motivation and bias must have played a role in the occurrence. He highlighted that Black people in American society are not being given the "benefit of the doubt;" thus, the violence toward Black people is normalized since white police officers project their expectations or fears onto Black people. He added - "It seems to be a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ kind of thing." During the talk with Aden, Williams requested de-escalation and unconscious bias training be performed. The remaining question is: How much will the training conducted on a small part of police officers help prevent the general racial bias in the whole American society?

The president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Michael P. Heiskell, convinces the race of the perpetrator does not matter when discussing unconscious bias and abuse. In the case of Fortson's killing, he focused on pointing out the misconduct of the action and the deputy's immediate reaction based on the shooting and not a rational evaluation of the given situation.

Nevertheless, there is no official data concerning police misconduct based on the race of the victim. Private organizations only carry out the available statistics. They, however, proved that although police kill more white people, Black people are disproportionately killed by police since 12% of the American population is Black people. In contrast, they constitute around 25% of the people shot by police officers.

MaCharie Dunbar, a board member of the Black Veteran Projects, has disputed the racism in the United States and the connection to the fantasies about Black people's perceptions. "One thing proven true time and again is that if you’re Black in America, it doesn’t matter what kind of job you have, the clothes you wear, the car you drive, the house you live in," he said "At the end of the day, you’re just Black. And some hold on to this ideology that Black people are dangerous." The remaining question, however, stays the same: how many lives have to be taken for people to get rid of the racial bias they impose every day?

Source: New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News