Two Americas

 


A young man was murdered in Memphis, TN in early January by members of the Memphis Police Department. Officers stopped Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, for an apparent traffic violation. Pulled from his car, he was violently pushed to the ground by several officers; broke free and sprinted away; was caught and beaten severely by officers; waited for 22 minutes for an ambulance to arrive; and died three days later in a Memphis hospital. As CNN reports, there is much we know and much we don’t know at this time – but we do know a young man was beaten to death.


The five police officers were also all Black men. They belonged to a special unit of the force named SCORPION (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods), in retrospect an awful acronym. The unit was created with 40 officers in 2021 as a response to the spike in violent crime in the city. The five officers were rapidly fired, then indicted, jailed, and released on bond pending prosecution. 


As expected, protests occurred after the release of the police videos in Memphis and other cities. Of note is that the protests were largely peaceful at the time I am writing this post. It is entirely possible that protests could turn violent, but Nichols’ family and many others have urged protestors not to resort to violence. Meanwhile, Fox News suggests that the police involved have not been heard and society’s treatment of police is to blame. Tucker Carlson had his predictable rant while David Clarke, the former sheriff of Milwaukee said this was just more Black-on-Black violence. 


Who was Tyre Nichols? As always, that is a complicated question. Who are we all? The substance of his life will come out over time. I was impressed with his photography. His website has portions of his portfolio; it is something to contemplate as an entry point into his short life. He was among other things artistic. 


We remain in the rut of racism in the United States. And yes, we can trace it back to 1619 and follow its awful course through our history to today. Charles Blow noted in his editorial today that we have abandoned any real effort to reform policing in our country. We remain a white supremacist nation with the embedded idea that contrary to the Declaration of Independence, not all men (and women) are created equal. Creating police units called SCORPION does not help. The officers seemed to want to live up to the moniker applied to them. I do not have an answer but the depravity of white supremacism and its attendant isms will continue to make us all less safe and secure and will continue to eat away at what is good about our nation. Look in the mirror, America. Don’t close your eyes.

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