Memphis, Tennessee: An unarmed black man has died after being videotaped by police. The officers involved in this have been sacked. After a thorough review of the evidence, criminal charges are swiftly filed against the offending officers.
Investigation, Accountability and Allegation.
This is often the most black citizens can expect as the deaths continue. Nationwide, police have consistently killed nearly three people per day since 2020, according to academics and advocates for police reform who track such deaths.
Tyra Nichols’ fatal encounter with police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, recorded on video made public Friday night, is a stark reminder that efforts to reform policing have failed to prevent more flashpoints in an unrelenting epidemic of brutality. .
Nearly 32 years ago, the brutal police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles sparked a heartfelt call for change. They have since been repeated in a constant rhythm following the deaths of Amadou Diallo in New York, Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and many others.
The 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was so painful to watch, it prompted a national protest, including a proposed federal law named after him and a show of solidarity by corporations and sports leagues. All missed the change in law enforcement culture black people in America have called for — a culture that fosters freedom from fear, trust in police, and mutual respect.
“We need public safety, don’t we? We need law enforcement to deal with widespread crime,” said Jason Turner, senior pastor at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis. “Plus, we don’t want people who sworn to protect and serve us, they brutalize us for a simple traffic stop or any crime.”
Five black officers have now been fired and charged with murder and other crimes in the January 10 deaths of Nichols, a 29-year-old skateboarder, FedEx worker and father of a 4-year-old boy.
From police officers and the district attorney’s office to the White House, officials said Nichols’ killing points to the need for bolder reforms that go beyond just diversifying the ranks, changing rules on the use of force, and allowing citizens to file complaints. beyond encouraging.
“The world is watching us,” said Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy. “If there’s one line of hope that can be drawn from this dark cloud, it’s that perhaps this incident can open up a wider conversation about the need for police reform.”
President Joe Biden joined national civil rights leaders in a similar call to action.
“To deliver real change, we must have accountability when law enforcement officers violate their oaths, and we need to build lasting trust between law enforcement, the vast majority of whom wear badges of honor, and the communities they serve.” And they’ve sworn to protect,” the president said.
But Memphis, whose 628,000 residents celebrate with barbecue and blues music and mourn the site where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, has seen it before. The move calls for a “Reimagine Policing” initiative in 2021, and reflects a set of policy changes the city wants all departments to implement immediately, known as the “8 Can’t Wait”.
De-escalation training is now essential. Officers are asked to limit the use of force, exhaust all alternatives before resorting to deadly force, and report all uses of force. Tennessee also took action: State law now requires officers to intervene to stop abuse and report excessive force by their partners.
Showing unusual transparency for a police department, the MPD now publishes accountability reports that include the race of people subject to the use of force each year. They show that black men and women were disproportionately targeted for harsher treatment in 2019, 2020 and 2021. They were subject to about 86 percent of recorded uses of guns, batons, pepper spray, physical beatings and other force in 2021, almost double the total of 1,700 cases that year.
Seven uses of force by Memphis police ended in death during these three years.
Ashe said, “I don’t know how much more cumulative Black Deaths our community will have to pay to convince elected officials that the policing system isn’t broken — it’s working exactly as it was designed.” ” —Lee Woodard Henderson, co-executive director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, a Tennessee-based civil rights leadership training school.
The Nichols case — one of a string of brutality cases to make national news this month — highlights an uncomfortable truth: The deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks have sparked more than two years of protests, police reforms that have prevented such killings. has not been reduced.
States approved nearly 300 police reform bills after Floyd’s killing, according to a recent analysis by Howard, involving citizen oversight of police, more anti-bias training, stricter use-of-force limits and people with mental illnesses. Arrest Options in Cases Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Despite calls to “defund the police,” an Associated Press review of police funding nationwide found only modest cuts, largely driven by shrinking revenues related to the coronavirus pandemic. Budgets increased and more officers were hired for some of the larger departments, including New York City.
Still stuck in Congress is the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would prohibit racial profiling, ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants, limit transfers of military equipment to police departments, and make it easier to press charges against offending officers Will make Biden said he told Nichols’ mother that he would “make the case” for Congress to pass the Floyd Act “to get it under control”.
Rev. Al Sharpton said his eulogy at Nichols’ funeral on Wednesday would include a call for the new laws. NAACP President Derrick Johnson also took aim at Congress.
“By failing to write one piece of legislation, you are writing another obituary,” Johnson said. “Tell us what you’re going to do to honor Tyra Nichols. … We can name all the victims of police violence, but we can’t name a single law you’ve passed to address this.” Can’t give.
Advocates want state and federal legislation because local changes vary widely in scope and impact and can be undone by a single election after years of grassroots activism. But some say the stricter rules are just the beginning — and the video of Nichols’ agony proves it.
“Changing the rules doesn’t change behavior,” said Katie Ryan, chief of staff at Campaign Zero, a group of academics, police experts and activists working to end police violence. “The culture of a police department has to shift to actually implementing policies, not just saying there is a rule.”
The five officers charged – Taddeus Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith – were part of the so-called Scorpion Unit. Scorpion stands for street crime operations to restore peace in our neighborhood.
Memphis Police Chief, Cerelin “CJ” Davis disbanded the unit on Saturday.
“It is in everyone’s best interest to permanently deactivate the Scorpion unit,” she said in a statement.
Prior to Davis’ move, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said it was clear the officers involved in the attack on Nichols violated department policies and training.
“I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again,” Strickland said in a statement. “We are launching an external, independent review of the training, policies and operations of our special units.”
The Memphis Police Union expressed condolences to Nichols’ family, saying it was “committed to the administration of justice and has never condoned the abuse of any civilian nor any abuse of power.” The statement also expressed confidence that the justice system would reveal “the totality of the circumstances” in the case.
Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, pushed against the conclusion that policing had to change. Yos said, it was “not a legitimate police act or wrongful traffic stop”. “This is a criminal assault under the pretext of law.”
Protesters turned out again on Friday night after video footage was released by the city. The Memphis pastor, Turner, called the images “further evidence that our city’s and our nation’s criminal justice system is in dire need of change.”
“It’s not that we lack concrete, reasonable recommendations,” said the Reverend Earl Fischer, senior pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church. “What we’re lacking is the political will and commitment to make structural changes.”