The Air Force's Black Pilot State of the Union

Outside the Gate

George Floyd. Kyle Rittenhouse. The Proud Boys. “Stand back and stand by.” COVID-19: to wear a mask or not. The “Kung-Flu.” Confederate Monuments. A 2nd impeachment of the president. A black vice-presidential candidate and another birther conspiracy. Renaming military bases named after Confederate “heroes.” MAGA. Black Lives Matter. Election fraud claims by a sitting U.S. president. Black athletes wearing names of unarmed black men and women killed by the police. A sitting Commander-in-Chief inciting a predominantly white mob to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to stop the counting of the electoral college ballots. A black Secretary of Defense. A Black Air Force Chief of Staff.

I have been retired from the Air Force for 11 years. Time flies. I can’t say that in my 24 years as an Air Force officer, or in my four years as an Air Force Academy cadet, that I have ever seen an America so contentiously divided over issues of race.

I honestly can’t imagine what it is like today being in an Air Force uniform and seeing the current environment outside the gates of an Air Force base. I have no point of reference. Here are some recent headlines that paint the picture that our black airmen see when they look outside the gate.

“Lloyd Austin ramps up the fight against   right-wing extremism within the military.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III convened the military chiefs and civilian secretaries of the armed forces on Wednesday to begin intensifying the Pentagon’s efforts to combat white supremacy and right-wing extremism in the ranks.

Mr. Austin also ordered that all military commands ‘stand down’ at some point in the next 60 days to reinforce existing regulations barring extremist activity in the military, and to ask troops for their views on the scope and severity of the issue, the Pentagon press secretary, John F. Kirby, told reporters. He said many details of the ‘stand down’ — a pause in operations that the military often uses to address safety issues — need to be worked out.

‘This is very much a leadership issue, down to the lowest level,’ Mr. Kirby said, citing what Mr. Austin, a former four-star Army general, had told the Pentagon leaders on a video call.

In the days since a pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, senior leaders of the 2.1 million active-duty and reserve troops have been grappling with the reality that several current or former military personnel joined the rioters.

Last year, the F.B.I. notified the Defense Department that it had opened criminal investigations involving 143 current or former service members. Of those, 68 were related to domestic extremism cases, according to a senior Pentagon official. The ‘vast majority’ involved retired military personnel, many with unfavorable discharge records, the official said.” (Schmitt, 2021)