Tyre Nichols Shouldn’t Be Dead

But this is how it is in America

Another Black man has gone way too soon.

Tyre Nichols was savagely attacked by Black and White police officers on the evening of January 7th in Memphis, Tennessee.

Three days later he was dead.

It was murder.

On January 27th, twenty days after the attack, the video footage was released. And of course, it’s horrifying to watch. It was a scene out of the Wire.

The officers stopped Nichols’ car, claiming he had been driving recklessly.

After a brief conversation, the video shows the officers wrenching open the car’s driver’s side door and dragging Nichols out of the car.

Nichols is on the ground asking what he’s done wrong. The cops are yelling at him, hitting him, and trying to arrest him. Nichols breaks free and runs away while a White officer fires a taser at him. Several minutes later, the officers catch up to Nichols and the brutal beating begins.

Nichols is knocked to the ground, punched, and kicked. There’s even a point in the video where two or three officers are standing Nichols up while another officer punches him repeatedly.

The video is savage and ugly. After the melee, the officers laugh and joke about their actions. It takes over twenty minutes before an ambulance arrives. No medical aid was provided to Nichols by any of the officers.

Nichols was treated like an animal. Think of lions on the Serengeti, Nichols was the antelope. The officers were the lions. They chased Nichols down and destroyed him. It was pure blood lust.

Soon after Nichols’ passing, the officers were fired. Not long after that, the officers were arrested and charged with murder. Their unit, called SCORPION, was disbanded on January 27th.

But many questions still remain. Why haven't the White officers who also participated in Nichols’ beating been named and charged? I haven’t seen a single White officer on the news. Why are these officers being protected?

It’s clear that race and racism play a heavy role in the death of Tyre Nichols. Nichols was a photographer and avid skateboarder. Before he was stopped by the cops, Nichols was returning from taking pictures of the sunset.

Wow, what a reason to get beaten like a rabid dog in the street!

Black rage has reached critical mass. Another Black man was murdered by officers. It doesn’t matter if the officers were Black. Those men gave up their Blackness for Blue. They served a master who wanted them to treat their own like animals — and they were more than willing to do it.

Prayers to the friends and family of Tyre Nichols. He deserves justice. His soul will not rest until justice is served.