Deep-rooted racism, discrimination permeate U.S. military By KAT STAFFORD, JAMES LAPORTA, AARON MORRISON and HELEN WIEFFERING, Associated Press Published: May 27, 2021, 2:45pm Share: 7 Photos In this Dec. 28, 2009 photo provided by Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Stephanie Davis, she holds a U.S. flag in the cargo area of a KC-135 airplane while flying over Pakistan/Afghanistan. For Davis, who grew up poor, the military was a path to the American dream, a realm where everyone would receive equal treatment. But many of her service colleagues, Davis says, saw her only as a Black woman. Or for the white resident colleagues who gave her the call sign of ABW - it was a joke, they insisted - an "angry black woman," a classic racist trope. (Courtesy Stephanie Davis via AP)