Could their actions have been motivated by anti-Black bias?
It’s hard to investigate the minds of the officers who beat Nichols so savagely and say for sure what motivated them. But
there is ample research that suggests
anti-Blackness is a factor in American policing. And Black officers, agents of an
institutionally racist system, are affected by this.
Anti-Blackness affects Black people, too. And this might explain why
Black police officers exhibit more anti-Black bias than the Black population as a whole.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump comforts RowVaughn Wells, mother of Tyre Nichols, during a press conference hours before the video of police beating Nichols was released.
Scott Olson /Getty Images News via Getty ImagesMore
To comprehend this, we have to take a step back and think about race. Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist, described race as a sign. When we look at skin color or
people as racialized subjects, they signify something to us. Black people, in this society – and
in other parts of the world –
for many signify danger, threat and criminality. And as a result, institutions like the criminal justice system respond to their perceived threat with
profiling, harassment and violence.
Our surprise that five Black police officers could brutalize another Black man indicates we have an impoverished understanding of race and racism in this country.
What does Tyre Nichols’ death mean for calls to diversify policing?
For years, elected officials, activists and citizens have been making calls to reform policing. Many have said bringing more people from ethnically diverse backgrounds onto police forces would go a long way toward correcting institutional racism in the criminal justice system.
The final report of “
The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing,” commissioned through an executive order by President Barack Obama, called for law enforcement agencies to “strive to create a workforce that encompasses a broad range of diversity, including race, gender, language, life experience, and cultural background to improve understanding and effectiveness.”
One recent study concluded that
Black and Hispanic police officers make fewer traffic stops and use force less often than their white counterparts. But, at the same time, Black and brown police officers live in the same culture that sees Black people as criminals and threats. So simply having more officers of color
doesn’t do enough to fix the problem.
How does seeing video of another Black man brutalized by police, this time Black officers, affect Black people?
Over the past decade, videos of Black people killed at the hands of police officers have filled social media and news sites. I, for one, cannot watch them because
they terrify me and amplify fears for my safety and that of my family and friends. I watched about 30 seconds of the Black police officers pummeling Nichols and couldn’t take any more. I know I’m not alone. Studies tell us that police killings of unarmed Black people
are psychologically traumatizing events for Black people. This kind of horror should be traumatizing to the nation. But if Black is the sign of danger and criminality, who will have empathy for the Tyre Nicholses of the world?
People honor the memory of Tyre Nichols during a candlelight vigil held in his honor.
Scott Olson/Getty Images News via Getty Images
I’m really curious, and want to know. What was Lucas’s wake up call. Like breh used to be c00ning heavy.
I’m actually surprised. I thought that black guy with the eye liner. Was gonna switch up, after his wake up call.
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