Ugliness of racism in East Tennessee changed Black airman's life trajectory | Opinion
My friend, retired Lieutenant Colonel Reginald L. Bullock, recently published his third book, an autobiography, "It's All About the Hustle." It chronicles his growing up on the streets of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, working on his grandparents' farm in Macon, North Carolina, playing music as a DJ in New York City's Leviticus International and trying his hand as a fashion designer after attending the Fashion Institute of Technology in that city. It also mentions the racial discrimination his family experienced in Maryville.
He attended several schools and was successful in making money but was never satisfied, so he enlisted in the Air Force in 1982. After training as an aircraft armament systems specialist, he was sent to Sembach Air Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany, from 1982 to 1984. "All I wanted to do was see the world," he said.
By the time he was assigned here at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base in 1996, he had seen much of world. He had become a second lieutenant in the Air National Guard and was an instructor in the Academy of Military Science. He was the only Black instructor in the school and for a time was the only Black officer on the base.
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Shortly before I retired from the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, I gave him a tour of the facility and the city of Knoxville. We went to several night spots, and on occasion I had dinner with him, his wife and children in Maryville. I took them to Zoo Knoxville, Holston River Park and civic functions.
They had travelled to many places in the world and he was living the usual life of an airman when the ugliness of racism changed the trajectory of his life. His son, Reggie Jr., and daughter, Chenae, were students at Fairview Elementary School in Maryville when they were first subjected to the N-word. Not knowing what it meant, they asked their dad. "My children were under constant racial attacks at Fairview Elementary School. After only the second day, they came home and asked me what an 'N' was.
"My children had never heard that word before," Bullock wrote. "I immediately began what became a two-year battle with ignorance, injustice and racism in a school system that allowed this behavior. On one occasion when my son came home to show us his homework and test papers, I saw in red ink stamped on the back of one paper 'Ku Klux Klan.' I contacted my commander, the NAACP, a lawyer and the media. We ended up moving our children to another school while we continued to fight.
"During the two-year battle, lots of changes were made in the school district, along with new policies and staff. Formal apologies were made and my children were invited back. But the Pentagon was well aware of what I was going through. I was flown to Washington, D.C., interviewed and selected for a position. We packed up for our relocation to Andrews AFB, Maryland."
Soon he was commander of the 113th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. Bullock was sent to the Joint Military Intelligence College, where he received a master of science degree in strategic intelligence. "l think I was in a building with some of the best strategists in the world," he said.
In Washington, his promotions seemed to come quickly. I remember writing to him as Captain Bullock, then major, and after 12 years, my friend was Lt. Colonel Bullock. In 1994 he published his first book, "Father to Son: A Guide to Growing Up in a Difficult World." He found time in 2018 to publish "The Horn and the Halo: Thath," which was begun by his brother, Barnard, before his death in 1983. Bullock recently retired in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and pursues various interests.
Robert J. Booker is a freelance writer and former executive director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. He may be reached at 865-546-1576.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Opinion: Ugliness of racism in East Tenn. changed Black airman's life
