The murder of Tyre Nichols is so horrific. It is hard to watch and write about. It causes pause. Black men should not be beaten to death for a traffic violation. Only 29 years old, he was a son, a father, and a loving person. He worked at Federal Express, was an amateur photographer, and loved skateboarding. When pulled over by Black Memphis police officers for alleged reckless driving, Nichols complied with their demands. He was obedient and listened, yet he was pulled out of his car by the officers who pushed him to the ground.
In an hour-long video, one of the officers is heard saying: “B*tch put your hands behind your back before I break them.” Another officer then threatens Nichols, “I’m going to knock your ass the f*ck out.”
When the officers loosened their grip on Nichols, he escaped on foot as a self-defense move from a gang attack. He runs towards home, only a hundred feet away, and is caught by the five Black policemen who wrestle him to the ground with pepper spray to his face. They beat him with batons while kicking and punching him before leaving him slumped over against a police car. According to CNN, police camera footage showed Nichols being hit nine times in four minutes. Nichols, on the ground, can be heard crying out loudly for his mother. This is heartbreaking and enough already.
Nichols was hospitalized in critical condition and died three days after the Jan. 7 traffic stop. His funeral will be held today at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, TN, with Rev. Al Sharpton set to deliver the eulogy.
What is it? Black men everywhere are targets. White women and (Black ones, too) see the guys on the street, and we hold on to our purses. On trains and buses, we move our seats to avoid suspicious-looking characters and cross to the other side of the street to avoid passing them.
Black men of all ages, but primarily young ones, live in fear and live in the mode of getting caught for doing something to nothing. What did I do? Mr. Nichols kept asking as he was beaten to death. What did he do? What was the traffic violation? There is more here than meets the eye. The attack was too vicious. In the days to come, more information will be revealed.
I was a guest on a radio show to discuss this situation, and a woman called in to say the Black Ku Klux Klan beat him. The relics of racism are not always based on skin color. Black people, too, are racist against each other sometimes, following the stereotype that we live by. Black men are bad. Black men are dangerous; Black men are negative. So again, I asked the question, “What did he do?”
The authorities, the police chief in Memphis, handled this case with appropriate expertise. Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, a woman, fired the all-Black policeman first. The cops were a part of SCORPION – an all-Black unit built to make arrests stealthily without the special scrutiny White cops might get. Then days later, they were charged with the crime of murder. And that’s when Davis dispensed the special unit. Its acronym is Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods. The unit was an idea that didn’t work. Davis raised the bar on how to handle such cases and moved with deliberate speed. She did not put the policemen on desk duty, check with the union or let the Mayor decide. She did not politicize the action of the policemen. Instead, she assumed full authority, called the crime hideous, and immediately punished the guilty. The policemen will have their day in court, but the tapes tell the story.
So, the news media examines the outrage, and all say we need new laws to govern the police and new training techniques for the police. Perhaps a national police reform act. But policemen are called daily to make split-second decisions that could cost a life. They make decisions on the spot. Training can help but will never be the deciding factor. People make choices. All five policemen beat Tyre. It seems one of them would have said, this is out of hand, but it didn’t happen. The beating seemed contagious, and all five policemen lost control. Why?
A sixth Memphis policeman seen in the video of the murder of Tyre Nichols has been identified as Preston Hemphill. He was identified by the Apple watch he was wearing in the video. He deployed his taser and said, “I hope they stomp his ass.” Hired in 2018, he is 26 years old and has been ‘relieved of his duty’ after the brutal murder of Nichols. He has yet to be charged with the crime of murder.
Hemphill’s attorney Lee Gerald said in a statement: “I can confirm that Hemphill was the third officer at the initial stop of Mr. Nichols. Video One is his bodycam footage.” As per departmental regulations, Officer Hemphill activated his bodycam. He was never present at the second scene. He is cooperating with officials in this investigation.”
The death of Tyre Nichols was unnecessary and painful. It brings to light the racism that exists with the men of Blue. The challenge is to crack the Blue Code of conduct. Hard to do, I say. I taught in the police academy once as a City Colleges professor. I lasted for only two weeks. I wouldn’t say I liked the policemen’s attitudes, and they did not want to hear sociological theory; they wanted to know what to do on the street when they were in danger. Some of them did not belong on the police force, I thought, as I heard the racist conversations.
Black men at large live with this fear of policing. For example, when N’DIGO was a newspaper, we interviewed a Black doctor, a neurosurgeon, who worked at Northwestern Medical Center. When we went to photograph him, he insisted on wearing his scrubs and hospital tags for the cover shoot.
We went back and forth about what he would wear, and he finally told me the reason for the scrubs. Living in Highland Park, he made the hike twice a day, to and fro. He had a medium brown complexion and was the tall and handsome football type. “I can’t afford to have anything wrong with my hands – no handcuffs, no striking,” he said. “I have a better chance of police not bothering me if I have on my scrubs and hospital tags. I look like a doctor. If I have on a suit, I could have a police problem moving about in Highland Park,” he told me. I said you are kidding? He said, “no, I am not.”
Then he asked how many Black neurosurgeons do you know? I said none; that’s why we are doing this story. Then, finally, he asked, “Can you see me arguing with the policeman late evening, telling them I am on my way to the hospital to perform brain surgery? Suppose they handcuff me?” At that moment, I understood the scrubs, which is how he appeared on the cover.
I want to know what Black men should do. You have the “talk” with Black sons beginning at the age of 10. The conversation about dealing with the police continues as the Black male gets his driver’s license. I have Black male friends of ages and all skin tones. I have become very conscious of saying farewell when we depart. I am beginning to say drive safely and call me when you get home because Black men are targets.
If Barack Obama walked the streets of Memphis, Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York without his Secret Service detail, he would be subject to Black male ill-treatment. Enough already. The authorities and the politicians will talk about what to do with the police, more funding, defunding, fewer hours, the curtailing of the special units, and police reform and new laws. I have only one question.
What do Black men do when stopped on the street by a policeman?
