The Air Force's Black Pilot State of the Union

This is an excerpt from the Prologue:

Fast forward from my experience 31 years ago to December 5th, 2020. A young black and Latin officer, an Army Lieutenant, in uniform, is driving down a dark road. A dark road in what many might consider the “South,” in Windsor, VA, 70 miles southeast of Richmond. He is signaled to pull over by the police.

Perhaps he grew up like me. He was the age of one of my children. Maybe he had a father like me and a grandfather like my dad who had warned him to be wary of police officers, especially outside the base. Army 2nd Lieutenant Caron Nazario decided not to pull over until he could get to a well-lit area. (Lenthang, 2021)

“On Dec. 5, 2020, Windsor police officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker pulled over U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, while he was dressed in uniform…

According to the report Officer Crocker submitted after the incident, Crocker said the driver was "eluding police" and he considered it to be a high-risk traffic stop.

Nazario wasn't eluding police, he was trying to stop in a well-lit area for his safety and for the officers' safety, according to the lawsuit.

Gutierrez acknowledged that Nazario's decision to drive to a lighted area occurs "a lot ... 80% of the time," and that the maneuver informed him that Nazario was "at least 80% probability, a minority," the lawsuit claims.” (Lenthang, 2021)

It turns out that not only was it possible that 2nd Lt. Nazario’s upbringing was similar to mine, but the arresting officer also said that 80% of the time, minorities take similar actions. It’s so prevalent for minorities to think and behave this way that the officer was 80% sure that the driver was “a minority.” (Lenthang, 2021) 

Even though the officer knew that minorities take these types of precautions 80% of the time, he classified it as a high-risk stop. Further, he continued to treat it as a high-risk stop even after it was clear that the temporary tags in question were in the back window and after he could see the driver was a minority.

What’s most disturbing is that he continued to treat it as a high-risk stop even after he (as a veteran) could see that Lt. Nazario was in uniform and after he realized he was a commissioned officer. Further, the officers drew weapons and pepper-sprayed 2nd Lt. Nazario, and after he put his hands up, this happened:

“When he finally got out of the car the video shows the officers repeatedly telling Nazario to get on the ground and then force him down, according to the lawsuit.

The officers struck Nazaro with their fists, knees and hands, forcing him onto his face and placed him in handcuffs, according to the lawsuit.” (Lenthang, 2021)

This is the State of the Union outside the base. This is the era of Derek Chauvin and George Floyd, Philando Castile, Ahmaud Arberry, and so many others. I am 57 years old. I don’t remember hearing of high-profile cases like these when I was Lt. Nazario’s age. I tended to place these types of horrific incidents in my parents’ era. As I have begun to do more research, however, and reflect on how I lived my life, I realize that these incidents are not some new phenomena.