The Air Force’s top uniformed officer has issued a powerful statement to his commanders condemning the death of George Floyd, calling the incident a “national tragedy.”
Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein, who sits on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued the strongly worded memo to wing commanders and other commanders Monday evening.
“Every American should be outraged that the conduct exhibited by police in Minneapolis can still happen in 2020,” Gen. Goldfein said in the memo obtained by Air Force Times.
The memo was issued hours after the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force issued a striking and compelling Twitter thread that said his greatest fear was waking up to a report that a black airman has died at the hands of a white police officer.
“As I struggle with the Air Force’s own demons that include the disparities in military justice and discipline among our young black male airmen and the clear lack of diversity in our senior officer ranks … I can look in the mirror for the solution,” Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth Wright tweeted.
The two statements coincided with President Trump’s announcement that he may invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy active-duty military to stop riots if governors can’t restore order with National Guard troops.
Riots and protests have raged across the country in the aftermath of the May 25 killing of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Gen. Goldfein vowed to continue work to improve the diversity in the Air Force, especially within the most senior ranks. He asked for the troops to offer their own suggestions.
“Sometimes it’s explicit, sometimes it’s subtle, but we are not immune to the spectrum of racial prejudice, systemic discrimination and unconscious bias,” Gen. Goldfein wrote. “We see this in the apparent inequity in our application of military justice. We will not shy away from this; as leaders and as airmen we will own our part and confront it head on.”
The chief of staff is expected to hold a Facebook town hall meeting on Wednesday at 5 p.m. EST to discuss racial issues within the force.
“Discussing our different life experiences and viewpoints can be tough, uncomfortable, and therefore often avoided,” Gen. Goldfein wrote. “But we have been presented a crisis. We can no longer walk by this problem.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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