"And how many Mothers, even with grown sons, are sitting in the dark, waiting for them to get home?...."
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I told myself I wasn't going to watch the video.
But I relented.
And now it's forever in my head. I'm not sure what to say about it. But I feel like I have to say something.
Not because my voice needs to be heard. No no. Not that at all. The only voice I care about is his mother's right now. The woman Tyre was crying out for as he was being executed. A mere stone's throw from his front door.
I write these words because tomorrow, or next week or 10 years from now, I want to remember what I was feeling when I saw it. In the United States of America. In the year 2023.
What did it feel like to see a lynching?
I don't have a narrative prepared here. There's no beginning, middle, and end. I just have fragments. As I watched the video, they exploded in my head, like shrapnel.
Imagine the traffic stops we DON'T see? The ones were a surreptitious camera is NOT hiding high upon some streetlight, capturing every punch and kick and stomp and baton swing. How many times a night does this happen? In how many cites? How many black men drive in the dark with their hands gripping the steering wheel like it's a life preserver. How many black men who make it home breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the law of averages was kind to them. At least one last time.
And how many Mothers, even with grown sons, are sitting in the dark, waiting for them to get home.
That was my first thought. Because what came next was some sort of collective psychotic break. The dashboard cameras....I'm not sure what these guys are thinking. Do they forget they are wearing them? The cops swarm like wild dingos. From what we can tell, completely unprovoked. What driving "offense" that they subsequently claimed (and their own Chief disputed) merits such behavior? At no point is Nichols resisting. He's simply trying to comprehend what is happening to him. He’s bewildered. Completely disoriented. But trying his best to de-escalate. His is the only humanity on display.
He's dragged out of his car. Thrown the the ground. Every terrified word he utters seems to infuriate the police even more. His hands are behind his back. He's already on the ground. It should have ended here. And even if it did, it was appalling enough. Even if it ended here, these cops should have been pulled from the street. Whatever qualities it is a police officer needs to do his job, these men clearly do not have. These men are hand grenades. Everything they will say to investigators in the days ahead will be a lie. The reckless driving charge. That Nichols was high. That Nichols reached for one of their guns. All lies. They blithely assumed they’d be believed.
Because they always have been before, right?
But it doesn't end here.
Tyre Nichols was never a threat. And yet they tase him. Repeatedly. And he breaks free and runs. Why? Because that's what fighting for your life means. Home is a mere sprint away. That's what you would do too. Unless you are white, in which case you probably would not have been stopped in the first place. And you surely would not have been set upon. Like an animal. The cops used pepper spray this time. Indiscriminately. One one point one cop appears to spray it into another cop's eyes. These guys are armed and they can't shoot straight with fucking pepper spray. They then beat Tyre like children swinging at a piñata at a backyard birthday party. When they are done, they prop him up against the side of a police car, like some sort of sick trophy. Then they brag to each other about their handiwork. On camera. Laughing. Trying to catch their breath. Killing a man with bare hands is hard work. Two medics arrive. They render no aid. An ambulance comes 20 minutes later. By then it's too late.
Nichols weighed 150 pounds. Each cop is at least 200 pounds. Aside from everything else, it's one of the most cravenly cowardly things you'll ever see. Bullies out joyriding, assuming there are no consequences. Because they probably did this last night. And the night before. Hell......guys with this kind of DNA probably do this when they get home at night. What sort of safeguards are in place to ensure that the Memphis PD does not hire violent sociopaths? I guess we'll see. And we'll see how each of them managed to leak clues, like motor oil, all over their personnel files. A complaint here. Another complaint there. Each zip-locked by the blue wall of silence. The same wall that caused other cops on the scene, who did not join the beating, to simply stand there and watch it happen.
And something like this rips open the cultural wars. Facebook and Twitter lit up with the all white "why didn't he comply?" crowd, while others reveled in the fact that the police officers were all black, as if the insidious law enforcement demonization of young black males is nuanced enough to make such a distinction. The thin blue line holds. Our nation's fractures grow wider.
Once you see this, you cannot unsee it.
There’s a frame from a body camera. It shows fear like I’ve never seen it before….
The eyes. They knew. Right then. They knew.
I hope these eyes haunt these cops for the rest of their days.
In a bit…
—tf
I knew better than to watch the video and im crying now reading your description - i just cant even. I JUST CANT EVEN IM SO ANGRY
i get it the cops have it hard - its an incredibly hard job
but this? THIS?
This is so very sickening. To read about what happened ..and then to see the footage. It's appalling! The cops should NOT be out on bail , as they are. Outrageous!