This week was made incomprehensibly difficult and painful by the release Friday evening of the video that documents Tyre Nichols’s murder at the hands of five, now former, Memphis police officers.
I’m an ex police officer. Watching the video closely r from beginning to end I saw no pretext for the stop. We are left to wonder was it a traffic violation? Recognizing and stopping a fugitive for warrant service?
But most importantly, there was no initial contact. There was no statement explaining the violation. What struck me was that the first officer at the car opened the door and jerked the driver out abruptly and put him in the ground.
I believe it may be revealed that there was an off duty, unrelated reason for the stop and violent beating in gang fashion. The only combat from the victim was defensive moves and running for his life. It appears he knew what was coming.
As a police officer I never arrested a guilty person. They were suspected citizens and my job was to get them to the court. Alive. In good shape.
They may then be found guilty.
The other odd thing in the video was the amount of time they spent beating the man. Sirens. Lights. Cruisers. Screams.
And not a soul stepped out of a house to see or record by phone the police conduct.
That suggested to me the SCORPION unit runs roughshod over the district causing fear in the community they are supposed to protect.
This young man was given no opportunity to comply. No chance to surrender. No way to understand what the contract was based upon.
I never saw or heard an attempt to make a lawful arrest.
"I never arrested a guilty person." I was surprised when I read your words, until I understood what you were saying. Those words need to be EMBLAZONED in the mind of any person who chooses to enter a career in policing.
It looked to me like they chose a target and then deliberately murdered/lynched him - even knowing they were under surveillance by their own cameras and others - even comparing notes afterwards on how many hits they got in. They knew they could do this and likely thought they’d get away with it, protected by the badge, by the police union, by the obscene willfully blind “backing of the blue” in this country.
How can any of us ever feel safe in this country again?
After listening to the attack it just seems to me that they had been drugged. I would be interested to hear what they have to say after a few days once the drugs are out of their system if in fact that happened to them. I have been telling people one can hid a lot of drugs, chemical weapons in sugar. The late Dick Gregory warned our communities of color that rage chemicals were being sprayed on our streets. Planned jailing of people of color. They make unjust rules. They put the drugs in our communities where poverty is worse and then jail. Where are the head of the snakes?
The ones that planned harming communities of color? Then and now.
Prayer may help a person get through life and if so, that’s great. However, prayer isn’t what creates safe societies. If it helps at all, it absolutely must be significantly magnified by other factors.
Laws and the swift, safe, equally applied, legal accountability for breaking the law is what would keep us safer. Strong, social policies that ensure no one is homeless, hungry and uneducated would help even out our highly unbalanced society. Reinstating the complete Voting Rights Act and negating in full the disastrous Citizens United are bare minimum changes we need right now. Stopping the sale of any and all bump stocks, assault weapons, silencers and such, requiring a license to purchase a rifle or pistol, removing all firearms from anyone even arrested for domestic violence or who spouts off about killing others are necessary to even begin making society safer. Everyone who breaks a law, including every single cop, should be held legally accountable according to the law broken.
I live in a small, very Republican town in Indiana. After our government allowed military equipment to be given and sold to local police departments the one here outfit themselves as though they were a black ops team. In a town of 12,000. They stopped attending to routine police matters like writing traffic tickets for people who run red lights and stop signs. People here will stop dead in the middle of their lane to use their phone. No ticket. No fine. After almost being hit three times one day by people running through stop signs I spoke with the Mayor and asked why our ridiculously highly militarized police department no longer attends to regular police matters. His response was “they don’t do that anymore. They’re too busy with other things. What you have to do is pray that God will work on people’s hearts to start paying attention to traffic laws. God will take care of it if we pray hard enough.” The Mayor said that is what it would take to bring order to the town. I told him that when the ‘little’ laws aren’t reinforced then bigger ones would be next. People will lose faith in the laws and social norms of the town thus breaking down social cohesion. He said “not so, not if people pray enough, God will take care of it”.
I was almost hit yesterday while driving to the store. A man thought he should get to wherever he was going faster than me. I was driving on a 2 lane, small town street. I was going the speed limit of 30mph. His vehicle was behind mine. After swerving back and forth a few times he gunned his engine, zipped around me on the left as I had a turn signal going to indicate I was turning left and flipped me off when I used the horn. Then he ran the stop sign half a block ahead, causing other drivers to slam on their brakes. I guess the Mayor didn’t pray hard enough.
I love reading your comment. You are correct. I began to notice the change in our Police Department after Donald told the officers to stop placing their hands on someones head while putting them in a police car. That started it all for me. I saw last year Army type vehicle with men hanging off of the sides like they were in Afghanistan. Not there, but in my neighborhood. I live in Greensboro, NC. I heard a helicopter, I heard yelling, give yourself up or we will shoot. I went outside and my daughter called me back in. That's when I head shooting. Then a quiet ambulance, and them the armored combat vehicle came on my street leaving with men holding on outside the vehicle on both sides. Shocking!
Another thing that caught my attention was the Southern Poverty Law Center sent out a map showing all the Neo-Nazis, white militia groups, white Supremacy, and others. The night the elderly white man was attacked by a so called police officer during a march showed me that the Police have been infiltrated by members of these groups. It reminded me of the Hitler armed forces.
I pray. I was told that whatever we believe come. What ever we fear comes, so fear not. I was also told that what we want for others comes to us.
We are all on a different level. I am still a work in process. I want to do what I can to make our world a loving, better, and happier place. hahahahahaha Okay, lots of work to do, hahahahahaha
I don't choose to watch the video. Thank you for taking the time to show us your point of view. More police officers are like you, yet, some bad apples do sometimes get into the bunch.
I pray you are right. I live in Greensboro and in our city, the hiring of officers I don't see is a top priority. An example: Some white militia members were downtown with their long guns. It hit the news and so some men of color got their long guns and went downtown. Who was arrested? The men of color, only. It is known that White supremacist and militias have infiltrated police departments across our Nation, written in the Guardian. Sad but true. Do you know about The Southern Poverty Law Center? If not, contact them. they will send you a map of all the hate groups and which state they are in. 334-956-8200 is there number in Alabama.
Bad apples, literally and figuratively, can spread the rot to other 'apples' they're in contact with. This appears to me to be the case with the 5 officers in Memphis and very likely with other officers in the Scorpion Unit, disbanded as of yesterday but how many officers not in the unit were infected with the same gang-type mentality.
Such a good summary of your career perspective, Al. I've often wondered, in cases of inexcusable police violence, what is taught at the police academies. How much is it ever emphasized that "As a police officer, you must NEVER be judge, jury, and executioner when you make an arrest, and if you can't adhere to that standard, then you should not seek a career in law enforcement." I would want this to be my opening statement if I ran a police academy.
I found your observation about the SCORPION unit causing fear in the community was an important point. Why people wouldn't want to open their doors. Sometimes we really don't hear what is going on outside. I was in Germany the end of November when the police were evacuating because a bomb was found around the corner from us. I was oblivious to what was happening outside. (A bomb left over from WWII that was found when a plot was being excavated for a new home.)
It was amazing. Apparently, about 900 bombs are found in Germany every year. I'm sure there are also those found in Austria, Poland and other countries left over from WWII. For sure, Ukraine will have the same. It was over 500 lbs and when the police showed up at our Airbnb and said to evacuate, there was a bomb 150 meters away, we didn't waste time!
My mom taught me to keep a cool head in emergencies. The policeman said to me, "Don't panic". I told him I'm not panicking, I'm calm and will evacuate with my husband immediately. We had to leave a sign on the door that we evacuated. Let's just say, it was an "experience". The bomb was diffused about 3 am, there were 6 people who didn't want to leave their homes. They finally left. Everything was well organized, there was a school set up for people to go to with beds, food, drinks, etc. We were able to go to our daughter's just a quick drive away. It wasn't until we walked out of our apartment that we realized how close it was when we saw the bright lights focused on the bomb. Thank you for your kind words. We were safe, and we are grateful. You just never know....
I can understand you, as a former police officer, watching the video which I hear came with sound. I could not. That footage seemed no different to me than a snuff film.
Ah, then you wouldn't react as a civilian would. Was this killing by cop a thing 20-25 years ago? Just as a news reader, I don't have that recollection.
You said it !! I’ve been posting this over and over. WE CAN FIX THIS! Gerrymander and suppress all you like. Math is the same as it ever was. If more democrats vote than republicans, districts don’t matter. If the Courts won’t fix this, we’ll vote people in who will. We have the power! Wield it!
You are so right. I also believe that we must ask all to pray. Jesus said some evil spirits need prayer to remove. We need to ask our Heavenly Father to deliver us from this evil that has infiltrated our government on all levels. These misguided people need to wake up, but the Almighty can wake them up.
People need courage and quality of character to intervene, not testicles. If a body part is needed to stand in for these I politely suggest the spine instead of balls.
Jan 28, 2023·edited Jan 28, 2023Liked by Joyce Vance
I am unwilling to watch the footage of Tyre Nichol's getting beaten, or read the details of the footage. It reminds me of when a professor in an African history course in college showed us a film on how Dutch colonizers mistreated Africans in South Africa, and I skipped the class. Then the professor told me I could make it up by watching it in the library on my own. I told him I was not going to watch it, after seeing one already where we saw Belgian White Supremacists using special tools to crush in the faces of Black Africans who did not do what they wanted and how the shape of the tool fit into the place where a man's face was crushed in. I told him that I refused to watch anything where I was not learning something new, and where the suffering I was seeing was not further enlightening me. While I think it is tremendously important that the Memphis footage exists and is released, I am not going to be watching it. Instead I am going to want to know the results of the trial and hope that the results reflect the full awareness of the horror of this murder. Everyone I know that is Black fears being stopped by police. My friend Dona and I had taken my friend Frank from Germany out to hear music one night. Later we went for a nice drive along a lake front road into wealthy suburbs with huge mansions. My friend Dona is Black and was driving. At one point as she drove by one of the mansions on our way back into the city, a police officer who was parked by the gates of someone's enormous driveway, pulled out and followed us. He pulled us over. Frank was next to her and I was sitting in the middle of the back seat. The police officer pulled her over because he had seen her skin color. It was pretty obvious. We had told Frank even before we went out that all Blacks who drive up to those suburbs get pulled over and he did not believe us. He had not heard of the concept of "driving while being Black." So, when it actually happened he was shocked. We were not doing anything illegal. The officer looked in and he saw Frank sitting, and Frank, who is a pilot was spluttering and told him that this was like the Gestapo in Nazi times. I asked the cop why he had pulled Dona over. He tried to save face by asking if we had been drinking. I said, "1 beer 2 hours ago." So, he then told Dona that he had pulled us over because she had not been driving straight. She wanted to go along with him to get out of there and agreed that perhaps she had not been driving straight. I was furious and said, that I was sitting in the center of the car and she was driving absolutely straight and I had had a beer after eating a spaghetti dinner and I was not at all intoxicated. After I said that he let us go. Dona was scared, I was furious, and Frank was just in disbelief. Dona no longer lives in the USA. She has retired to Spain after working in UAE for many years. She is an ESL teacher. I find that Germans are often shocked at how racist the USA is, because Americans always claim the moral high ground globally, and particularly when it comes to Germans. Today I read a discussion in the NYT that Amanda Taub had with Anne Meng, a political scientist who studies autocracy. She said that she would not even code the USA as a democracy before 1965 with the Voting Rights Act. That is after WWII ended. Our democracy has not been in existence for very long and it still does not exist for everyone. Let us hope that this trial contributes to the desire on the part of the majority of Americans to be democratic.
America has never been a democracy. Not even after the Voting Rights Act. It was on the right track after that but did not make it. After the country was sold out to the highest bidder by John Roberts and Citizens United in 2010 we have been an oligarchy.
I've witnessed similar racist behavior, Linda. It is gut wrenching to watch, let alone experience.
I just want to add to your above WOW comment... education around anthropology would also help. No one would want to be seen as ignorant as racism is, if they were aware of their foolishness. Physical differences among us are so superficial and tiny compared to our sameness, racism is mostly ignorance... oh, yeah it does reflect the fools insecurity... boobs instead of normal behavior.
I agree! My family, which encompasses much superficial physical diversity, views all sorts of human variation as reflections of environmental adaptations of sorts, not as race or ethnicity. We fill out "race" boxes when it is required with "human." That is our official US Census category. My mom used that on her last Green card renewal application. It was sent back to her 2 times each time she put that in, and the third time it was accepted.
Jan 28, 2023·edited Jan 28, 2023Liked by Joyce Vance
OMG what a unique idea, listen to the people most affected by a situation. Now if we can expand this idea to racism, homelessness, poverty, education/teaching, etc.
Our biggest problem is we don't know how to ask, nor do we know how to listen. A city council person once told me only our leaders know what is possible... obviously that is not true. But we humans are good at learning new tricks when we think they are important. Joyce just gave us a lesson. Thanks Joyce.
Joyce, I'd like your thoughts about a comment I heard on the radio today: that the 5 policemen were arrested and fired immediately because they are Black. In similar situations where the suspected officers are white, investigations, arrests, and firing are delayed for much longer, if not totally blocked. Another tragic and horrifying reminder that the Civil War continues.
I’m not Joyce but I agree with that comment. They were fired and arrested far faster than any White cop would have been. I haven’t heard any police union supporting them either.
What we need is this kind of action every single time any cop breaks the law. What we also need is a robust DOJ willing to step in when this action is not taken.
I remember hearing that they are starting a Civil War. The FBI warned my people that hate groups were hunting people of color to hang, shoot, in other words kill.
Frank Figliuzzi: SCORPION LE are not out there looking for minor traffic violations.
This was a gang of sadists looking for a dopamine dump. Smoking after beating someone is about pleasure. Showing concern for fellow LE needing water to wash their eyes of mace shows what these sadists thought of Tyre: PREY.
EVERY person on that scene who did not render aid should be FIRED and ARRESTED.
The police unit SCORPION is an acronym for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods. How can anything named after a scorpion mean Restore Peace?!! Do you know how to disarm a scorpion? My little Papillon dogs (all of six pounds) instinctively disarm scorpions by biting the scorpion at the base of the tail breaking it at that point making the tail limp and useless. So I never have to worry my little dogs encountering scorpions. Why were five cops addressing a mere traffic violation!!!? I'm thinking it might work to have each beat cop be paired with a psychologist trained in deescalation and non-violent techniques.
Psychological testing is highly refined and can be easily administered. These sadists could easily have been identified. One was known to have beaten a prisoner as a guard.
Dear Joyce: Thanks for your thoughts this very sad day. I was appalled at the lack of compassion for Tyre after viewing the Memphis video tonight only 2 years after George Floyd. I had to fight back the tears. I can see how 45’s praise of violence may have added fuel to the flame for many police officers across the country feeling emboldened to tear down humanity one face at a time. In this case Tyre’s as he tried to remain calm and tell them he was just trying to get home while asking them what was it that he had done and their response was to beat him to death. It’s time for change at the Federal level but how? Blessings to Tyre’s family tonight.
So very sad. I tell my son and my grandsons to not to go out at night and to stay safe.
Evil has no skin color.
Seems as if they snapped. Hum... what did they eat before the rage? Remember when Putin was sharing his biological chemical weapons on national television? He fed a monkey one chemical and he was very friendly. He then fed him another and the monkey became very violent. Hum...something to think about. Remember one can hid a lot in sugar. Have anyone ever found out who purchase Krispy Kream Donuts? Russia? Saudi Arabia? My question remains, why hide the new owners.
Because our country was founded on violence. Because violence is applauded by many here. Because our DOJ is spineless. Because there is rampant corruption in our country and very little accountability for that. Because the police and military attract those who are prone to or learn to marinate in causing fear, spewing hatred and willingly engaging in violence. Because some humans are horrible people.
Thank you for this albeit brief (and probing) narrative on a sad and compelling subject that has been festering for decades, then got a jolt from the horrific Floyd incident - and the subsequent rapid rise of the BLM rationale and narrative.
I remember back in the day (1991) seeing grainy, distant footage of Rodney King getting his terrible and unjustified beating... but the new video from the Nichols case is simply gruesome and shockingly clear.
Here it is 40+yrs later and all too often nothing has apparently been learned. I can't imagine the pain and anger that the Nichols family must have been through (and it's getting magnified now).
Let's hope these 5 charged ex-officers become exemplars (far more than Derek Chauvin, who still got off light in my book) and really get max punishment and become teaching material at all police academies.
Ate? More like what did they drink or smoke, or what pill did they take that enabled them to lose all sense of human decency and supposed “professional peace officer” conduct? Abject shame on all and their superiors.
Appealing state verdict but I don't see how much that will help him because he also has been sentenced (July 2022) to 21 years on federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights, charges to which he plead guilty rather than having a federal trial.
Excerpt: "In December (2021), Chauvin pleaded guilty to violating Floyd's civil rights, admitting for the first time that he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck – even after he became unresponsive – resulting in the Black man’s death on May 25, 2020. The white former officer admitted he willfully deprived Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including unreasonable force by a police officer. {snip...} Chauvin will now serve the new federal sentence in a federal prison, in addition to serving his state sentence there, based on the plea agreement." https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/07/ex-cop-derek-chauvin-gets-more-prison-time-killing-george-floyd/7832637001/
Yes, all five men deserve being fired and charged; hopefully, they will never serve as peace officers again, and will serve due time in prison. I wonder if this episode will serve as a standard for police accountability. I am hoping that because these five police officers were so quickly fired and charged, the next time a Derek Chauvin like situation occurs, white officers will be treated the same as these black officers. And that is a sad commentary on how our justice system evolves.
Ah, white officers to be treated as blacks? Will I see it in my lifetime? I still remember the black men in Africa that snapped. The next day after slaughtering their neighbors they said they had no idea what happen. All of a sudden they became enragged. out of nowhere. Sounds like chemicals to me. Was Putin testing out the rage drug on humans? Seems that way to me.
?? Wait, what? please jump off of the conspiracy theory bandwagon... utter nonsense. Of course, they are going to play dumb and feign ignorance/deny it. Their gooses are cooked and they have been advised to totally stonewall and make up something for incompetence/insanity... anything to not face the music. basic survival instinct.
Thank you for once again articulating your compassionate and considered response to this barbarity. One thought that just struck me as to taking a concrete step in the direction of reforming our deeply-ingrained racist police practices would be to assign independent civilian oversight to inspect *all* police body-cams. It occurred to me that the *only* reason this horror came to light is that Tyre Nichols died. Had he not succumbed to the police brutality, the public would, most likely, never have heard a peep about this assault (and, I’m pretty sure the charged former-police offenders were also assuming that “their subject” wouldn’t die, even as they were attacking him). We need thorough, comprehensive, and utterly transparent oversight of all of our police departments’s practices to begin building the case that our current law-enforcement is irreparably broken, and that only a complete overhaul can address the deep flaws inherent in its current structure.
God help me, it seems that Mr. Nichols was, like so many have voiced as of late, targeted in some way to be “taught a lesson for others to learn.” Meaning “fear the police. If you do not comply, or even if you do, if they have made up their minds or have been instructed in any way to produce an outcome, you are the sacrificial lamb. And for those of color, and those of us who support their plight, once they have targeted you, is there no way out? We think of Martin Luther King’s message and way of non-violence. Should we just prepare to die? I am still reminded of Bosnia. From Mark Hertling, a post from 2020: Gosh, illegal checkpoints set up by militias that aren’t taken down by police forces...where have I seen that before? BOSNIA. As you suggest, I need to listen to the voices of those who must be heard, tonight and in the coming days. Thank you for all you write that is so inspiring.
I’m an ex police officer. Watching the video closely r from beginning to end I saw no pretext for the stop. We are left to wonder was it a traffic violation? Recognizing and stopping a fugitive for warrant service?
But most importantly, there was no initial contact. There was no statement explaining the violation. What struck me was that the first officer at the car opened the door and jerked the driver out abruptly and put him in the ground.
I believe it may be revealed that there was an off duty, unrelated reason for the stop and violent beating in gang fashion. The only combat from the victim was defensive moves and running for his life. It appears he knew what was coming.
As a police officer I never arrested a guilty person. They were suspected citizens and my job was to get them to the court. Alive. In good shape.
They may then be found guilty.
The other odd thing in the video was the amount of time they spent beating the man. Sirens. Lights. Cruisers. Screams.
And not a soul stepped out of a house to see or record by phone the police conduct.
That suggested to me the SCORPION unit runs roughshod over the district causing fear in the community they are supposed to protect.
This young man was given no opportunity to comply. No chance to surrender. No way to understand what the contract was based upon.
I never saw or heard an attempt to make a lawful arrest.
I’m glad Mr Crump is on this case.
Agree with everything you point out. This wasn't a good stop that went bad.
Thanks.
I always learn something really important from prosecutors.
From you I learned chickens are cool. Seriously. 😎
lol
Yes. Precisely. Thank you for the simple, and essential, clarification.
"I never arrested a guilty person." I was surprised when I read your words, until I understood what you were saying. Those words need to be EMBLAZONED in the mind of any person who chooses to enter a career in policing.
It looked to me like they chose a target and then deliberately murdered/lynched him - even knowing they were under surveillance by their own cameras and others - even comparing notes afterwards on how many hits they got in. They knew they could do this and likely thought they’d get away with it, protected by the badge, by the police union, by the obscene willfully blind “backing of the blue” in this country.
How can any of us ever feel safe in this country again?
That's why I pray. I am a person of color.
After listening to the attack it just seems to me that they had been drugged. I would be interested to hear what they have to say after a few days once the drugs are out of their system if in fact that happened to them. I have been telling people one can hid a lot of drugs, chemical weapons in sugar. The late Dick Gregory warned our communities of color that rage chemicals were being sprayed on our streets. Planned jailing of people of color. They make unjust rules. They put the drugs in our communities where poverty is worse and then jail. Where are the head of the snakes?
The ones that planned harming communities of color? Then and now.
Prayer is the key to staying safe.
Prayer?
Prayer may help a person get through life and if so, that’s great. However, prayer isn’t what creates safe societies. If it helps at all, it absolutely must be significantly magnified by other factors.
Laws and the swift, safe, equally applied, legal accountability for breaking the law is what would keep us safer. Strong, social policies that ensure no one is homeless, hungry and uneducated would help even out our highly unbalanced society. Reinstating the complete Voting Rights Act and negating in full the disastrous Citizens United are bare minimum changes we need right now. Stopping the sale of any and all bump stocks, assault weapons, silencers and such, requiring a license to purchase a rifle or pistol, removing all firearms from anyone even arrested for domestic violence or who spouts off about killing others are necessary to even begin making society safer. Everyone who breaks a law, including every single cop, should be held legally accountable according to the law broken.
I live in a small, very Republican town in Indiana. After our government allowed military equipment to be given and sold to local police departments the one here outfit themselves as though they were a black ops team. In a town of 12,000. They stopped attending to routine police matters like writing traffic tickets for people who run red lights and stop signs. People here will stop dead in the middle of their lane to use their phone. No ticket. No fine. After almost being hit three times one day by people running through stop signs I spoke with the Mayor and asked why our ridiculously highly militarized police department no longer attends to regular police matters. His response was “they don’t do that anymore. They’re too busy with other things. What you have to do is pray that God will work on people’s hearts to start paying attention to traffic laws. God will take care of it if we pray hard enough.” The Mayor said that is what it would take to bring order to the town. I told him that when the ‘little’ laws aren’t reinforced then bigger ones would be next. People will lose faith in the laws and social norms of the town thus breaking down social cohesion. He said “not so, not if people pray enough, God will take care of it”.
I was almost hit yesterday while driving to the store. A man thought he should get to wherever he was going faster than me. I was driving on a 2 lane, small town street. I was going the speed limit of 30mph. His vehicle was behind mine. After swerving back and forth a few times he gunned his engine, zipped around me on the left as I had a turn signal going to indicate I was turning left and flipped me off when I used the horn. Then he ran the stop sign half a block ahead, causing other drivers to slam on their brakes. I guess the Mayor didn’t pray hard enough.
Sad state of affairs. You are correct in your observation of the community policies.
I love reading your comment. You are correct. I began to notice the change in our Police Department after Donald told the officers to stop placing their hands on someones head while putting them in a police car. That started it all for me. I saw last year Army type vehicle with men hanging off of the sides like they were in Afghanistan. Not there, but in my neighborhood. I live in Greensboro, NC. I heard a helicopter, I heard yelling, give yourself up or we will shoot. I went outside and my daughter called me back in. That's when I head shooting. Then a quiet ambulance, and them the armored combat vehicle came on my street leaving with men holding on outside the vehicle on both sides. Shocking!
Another thing that caught my attention was the Southern Poverty Law Center sent out a map showing all the Neo-Nazis, white militia groups, white Supremacy, and others. The night the elderly white man was attacked by a so called police officer during a march showed me that the Police have been infiltrated by members of these groups. It reminded me of the Hitler armed forces.
I pray. I was told that whatever we believe come. What ever we fear comes, so fear not. I was also told that what we want for others comes to us.
We are all on a different level. I am still a work in process. I want to do what I can to make our world a loving, better, and happier place. hahahahahaha Okay, lots of work to do, hahahahahaha
Bless you my friend.
Joyce Marie Hand
My husband and I thank you for your take on this. We are simply horrified by this murder and everything that led to it.
I don't choose to watch the video. Thank you for taking the time to show us your point of view. More police officers are like you, yet, some bad apples do sometimes get into the bunch.
Thank you. You are correct about the bad apples in the barrel.
The civil suit against the city will surly address bad hiring and bad retention practices by the city.
I pray you are right. I live in Greensboro and in our city, the hiring of officers I don't see is a top priority. An example: Some white militia members were downtown with their long guns. It hit the news and so some men of color got their long guns and went downtown. Who was arrested? The men of color, only. It is known that White supremacist and militias have infiltrated police departments across our Nation, written in the Guardian. Sad but true. Do you know about The Southern Poverty Law Center? If not, contact them. they will send you a map of all the hate groups and which state they are in. 334-956-8200 is there number in Alabama.
Bless you!
I strongly recommend supporting the Southern Poverty Law Center even if with only a very small donation. https://www.splcenter.org
Bad apples, literally and figuratively, can spread the rot to other 'apples' they're in contact with. This appears to me to be the case with the 5 officers in Memphis and very likely with other officers in the Scorpion Unit, disbanded as of yesterday but how many officers not in the unit were infected with the same gang-type mentality.
Such a good summary of your career perspective, Al. I've often wondered, in cases of inexcusable police violence, what is taught at the police academies. How much is it ever emphasized that "As a police officer, you must NEVER be judge, jury, and executioner when you make an arrest, and if you can't adhere to that standard, then you should not seek a career in law enforcement." I would want this to be my opening statement if I ran a police academy.
I found your observation about the SCORPION unit causing fear in the community was an important point. Why people wouldn't want to open their doors. Sometimes we really don't hear what is going on outside. I was in Germany the end of November when the police were evacuating because a bomb was found around the corner from us. I was oblivious to what was happening outside. (A bomb left over from WWII that was found when a plot was being excavated for a new home.)
WOW! Left over from 80 years ago. That's amazing.
It was amazing. Apparently, about 900 bombs are found in Germany every year. I'm sure there are also those found in Austria, Poland and other countries left over from WWII. For sure, Ukraine will have the same. It was over 500 lbs and when the police showed up at our Airbnb and said to evacuate, there was a bomb 150 meters away, we didn't waste time!
WOW. Even wars that "end" never really end. Thank God that you are safe. It must have been terrifying!
My mom taught me to keep a cool head in emergencies. The policeman said to me, "Don't panic". I told him I'm not panicking, I'm calm and will evacuate with my husband immediately. We had to leave a sign on the door that we evacuated. Let's just say, it was an "experience". The bomb was diffused about 3 am, there were 6 people who didn't want to leave their homes. They finally left. Everything was well organized, there was a school set up for people to go to with beds, food, drinks, etc. We were able to go to our daughter's just a quick drive away. It wasn't until we walked out of our apartment that we realized how close it was when we saw the bright lights focused on the bomb. Thank you for your kind words. We were safe, and we are grateful. You just never know....
Your mother taught your well! And the responders to this emergency also kept their cool, sounds like!
I can understand you, as a former police officer, watching the video which I hear came with sound. I could not. That footage seemed no different to me than a snuff film.
Understand your reference to snuff film.
I watched it like examining any evidentiary item from a crime scene.
Might your work have to do with law enforcement, or legal representation?
Cop 17 years. Last 10 at the state police academy.
Ah, then you wouldn't react as a civilian would. Was this killing by cop a thing 20-25 years ago? Just as a news reader, I don't have that recollection.
Bad policing has always been around. Not as much publicity. Rodney King in LA.
Bull Connor on the Edmund Pettus Bridge with the Selma marchers.
You said it !! I’ve been posting this over and over. WE CAN FIX THIS! Gerrymander and suppress all you like. Math is the same as it ever was. If more democrats vote than republicans, districts don’t matter. If the Courts won’t fix this, we’ll vote people in who will. We have the power! Wield it!
You are so right. I also believe that we must ask all to pray. Jesus said some evil spirits need prayer to remove. We need to ask our Heavenly Father to deliver us from this evil that has infiltrated our government on all levels. These misguided people need to wake up, but the Almighty can wake them up.
A young man isviolentlybeaten by the cops
And not one had the balls to tell the others
to stop
Where is human decency when the police
stayed outside the classroom
And children and teachers died and
The school became their tomb
Where is accountability when
the President tells a big lie
AndCapitol Police and others die?
Where is our country and those that don’t want to help Ukraine
With so many shootings
Our country is filled with pain
People need courage and quality of character to intervene, not testicles. If a body part is needed to stand in for these I politely suggest the spine instead of balls.
I am unwilling to watch the footage of Tyre Nichol's getting beaten, or read the details of the footage. It reminds me of when a professor in an African history course in college showed us a film on how Dutch colonizers mistreated Africans in South Africa, and I skipped the class. Then the professor told me I could make it up by watching it in the library on my own. I told him I was not going to watch it, after seeing one already where we saw Belgian White Supremacists using special tools to crush in the faces of Black Africans who did not do what they wanted and how the shape of the tool fit into the place where a man's face was crushed in. I told him that I refused to watch anything where I was not learning something new, and where the suffering I was seeing was not further enlightening me. While I think it is tremendously important that the Memphis footage exists and is released, I am not going to be watching it. Instead I am going to want to know the results of the trial and hope that the results reflect the full awareness of the horror of this murder. Everyone I know that is Black fears being stopped by police. My friend Dona and I had taken my friend Frank from Germany out to hear music one night. Later we went for a nice drive along a lake front road into wealthy suburbs with huge mansions. My friend Dona is Black and was driving. At one point as she drove by one of the mansions on our way back into the city, a police officer who was parked by the gates of someone's enormous driveway, pulled out and followed us. He pulled us over. Frank was next to her and I was sitting in the middle of the back seat. The police officer pulled her over because he had seen her skin color. It was pretty obvious. We had told Frank even before we went out that all Blacks who drive up to those suburbs get pulled over and he did not believe us. He had not heard of the concept of "driving while being Black." So, when it actually happened he was shocked. We were not doing anything illegal. The officer looked in and he saw Frank sitting, and Frank, who is a pilot was spluttering and told him that this was like the Gestapo in Nazi times. I asked the cop why he had pulled Dona over. He tried to save face by asking if we had been drinking. I said, "1 beer 2 hours ago." So, he then told Dona that he had pulled us over because she had not been driving straight. She wanted to go along with him to get out of there and agreed that perhaps she had not been driving straight. I was furious and said, that I was sitting in the center of the car and she was driving absolutely straight and I had had a beer after eating a spaghetti dinner and I was not at all intoxicated. After I said that he let us go. Dona was scared, I was furious, and Frank was just in disbelief. Dona no longer lives in the USA. She has retired to Spain after working in UAE for many years. She is an ESL teacher. I find that Germans are often shocked at how racist the USA is, because Americans always claim the moral high ground globally, and particularly when it comes to Germans. Today I read a discussion in the NYT that Amanda Taub had with Anne Meng, a political scientist who studies autocracy. She said that she would not even code the USA as a democracy before 1965 with the Voting Rights Act. That is after WWII ended. Our democracy has not been in existence for very long and it still does not exist for everyone. Let us hope that this trial contributes to the desire on the part of the majority of Americans to be democratic.
POWERFUL.
America has never been a democracy. Not even after the Voting Rights Act. It was on the right track after that but did not make it. After the country was sold out to the highest bidder by John Roberts and Citizens United in 2010 we have been an oligarchy.
I've witnessed similar racist behavior, Linda. It is gut wrenching to watch, let alone experience.
I just want to add to your above WOW comment... education around anthropology would also help. No one would want to be seen as ignorant as racism is, if they were aware of their foolishness. Physical differences among us are so superficial and tiny compared to our sameness, racism is mostly ignorance... oh, yeah it does reflect the fools insecurity... boobs instead of normal behavior.
I agree! My family, which encompasses much superficial physical diversity, views all sorts of human variation as reflections of environmental adaptations of sorts, not as race or ethnicity. We fill out "race" boxes when it is required with "human." That is our official US Census category. My mom used that on her last Green card renewal application. It was sent back to her 2 times each time she put that in, and the third time it was accepted.
LOL I too put "human" on forms when asked race. I've endured more than one lecture about the need to collect statistic.
It takes so little intellect to see only what is most obvious, and no further thought. Makes me wonder about statisticians choices.
Well spoken.
WOW!!!
OMG what a unique idea, listen to the people most affected by a situation. Now if we can expand this idea to racism, homelessness, poverty, education/teaching, etc.
Our biggest problem is we don't know how to ask, nor do we know how to listen. A city council person once told me only our leaders know what is possible... obviously that is not true. But we humans are good at learning new tricks when we think they are important. Joyce just gave us a lesson. Thanks Joyce.
Joyce, I'd like your thoughts about a comment I heard on the radio today: that the 5 policemen were arrested and fired immediately because they are Black. In similar situations where the suspected officers are white, investigations, arrests, and firing are delayed for much longer, if not totally blocked. Another tragic and horrifying reminder that the Civil War continues.
EXACTLY would not have happened if they were good old white boys!!
I’m not Joyce but I agree with that comment. They were fired and arrested far faster than any White cop would have been. I haven’t heard any police union supporting them either.
What we need is this kind of action every single time any cop breaks the law. What we also need is a robust DOJ willing to step in when this action is not taken.
I remember hearing that they are starting a Civil War. The FBI warned my people that hate groups were hunting people of color to hang, shoot, in other words kill.
Frank Figliuzzi: SCORPION LE are not out there looking for minor traffic violations.
This was a gang of sadists looking for a dopamine dump. Smoking after beating someone is about pleasure. Showing concern for fellow LE needing water to wash their eyes of mace shows what these sadists thought of Tyre: PREY.
EVERY person on that scene who did not render aid should be FIRED and ARRESTED.
Including two (2) "sheriffs" on the scene of the crimes.
Thank you for your restraint and your respect.
The police unit SCORPION is an acronym for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods. How can anything named after a scorpion mean Restore Peace?!! Do you know how to disarm a scorpion? My little Papillon dogs (all of six pounds) instinctively disarm scorpions by biting the scorpion at the base of the tail breaking it at that point making the tail limp and useless. So I never have to worry my little dogs encountering scorpions. Why were five cops addressing a mere traffic violation!!!? I'm thinking it might work to have each beat cop be paired with a psychologist trained in deescalation and non-violent techniques.
Psychological testing is highly refined and can be easily administered. These sadists could easily have been identified. One was known to have beaten a prisoner as a guard.
They must not even love themselves.
Dear Joyce: Thanks for your thoughts this very sad day. I was appalled at the lack of compassion for Tyre after viewing the Memphis video tonight only 2 years after George Floyd. I had to fight back the tears. I can see how 45’s praise of violence may have added fuel to the flame for many police officers across the country feeling emboldened to tear down humanity one face at a time. In this case Tyre’s as he tried to remain calm and tell them he was just trying to get home while asking them what was it that he had done and their response was to beat him to death. It’s time for change at the Federal level but how? Blessings to Tyre’s family tonight.

So very sad. I tell my son and my grandsons to not to go out at night and to stay safe.
Evil has no skin color.
Seems as if they snapped. Hum... what did they eat before the rage? Remember when Putin was sharing his biological chemical weapons on national television? He fed a monkey one chemical and he was very friendly. He then fed him another and the monkey became very violent. Hum...something to think about. Remember one can hid a lot in sugar. Have anyone ever found out who purchase Krispy Kream Donuts? Russia? Saudi Arabia? My question remains, why hide the new owners.
It's such a horrible and unnecessary abuse from those who claim to serve and protect, how can this keep happening? 💔
Because our country was founded on violence. Because violence is applauded by many here. Because our DOJ is spineless. Because there is rampant corruption in our country and very little accountability for that. Because the police and military attract those who are prone to or learn to marinate in causing fear, spewing hatred and willingly engaging in violence. Because some humans are horrible people.
Some people of color don't like other people of color. Taught behavior. Self hate. Or stressed out and over worked. Had enough?
I would like to honor Tyre D. Nichols by suggesting a look at him as a person and a photographer:
https://thiscaliforniakid2.wixsite.com/tnicholsphotography
Thank you for this albeit brief (and probing) narrative on a sad and compelling subject that has been festering for decades, then got a jolt from the horrific Floyd incident - and the subsequent rapid rise of the BLM rationale and narrative.
I remember back in the day (1991) seeing grainy, distant footage of Rodney King getting his terrible and unjustified beating... but the new video from the Nichols case is simply gruesome and shockingly clear.
Here it is 40+yrs later and all too often nothing has apparently been learned. I can't imagine the pain and anger that the Nichols family must have been through (and it's getting magnified now).
Let's hope these 5 charged ex-officers become exemplars (far more than Derek Chauvin, who still got off light in my book) and really get max punishment and become teaching material at all police academies.
I would be interested to see what they ate before the rage.
Ate? More like what did they drink or smoke, or what pill did they take that enabled them to lose all sense of human decency and supposed “professional peace officer” conduct? Abject shame on all and their superiors.
I heard Derek Chauvin is going to appeal his verdict.
Hmm… not surprised… probably lawyers getting paid by wealthy white conservatives. Accountability is a joke to that ilk.
Appealing state verdict but I don't see how much that will help him because he also has been sentenced (July 2022) to 21 years on federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights, charges to which he plead guilty rather than having a federal trial.
Excerpt: "In December (2021), Chauvin pleaded guilty to violating Floyd's civil rights, admitting for the first time that he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck – even after he became unresponsive – resulting in the Black man’s death on May 25, 2020. The white former officer admitted he willfully deprived Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including unreasonable force by a police officer. {snip...} Chauvin will now serve the new federal sentence in a federal prison, in addition to serving his state sentence there, based on the plea agreement." https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/07/ex-cop-derek-chauvin-gets-more-prison-time-killing-george-floyd/7832637001/
The news reported recently that his appeal will be coming up within 90 days.
As, I see, thank you for the clarification 👍👍
Yes, all five men deserve being fired and charged; hopefully, they will never serve as peace officers again, and will serve due time in prison. I wonder if this episode will serve as a standard for police accountability. I am hoping that because these five police officers were so quickly fired and charged, the next time a Derek Chauvin like situation occurs, white officers will be treated the same as these black officers. And that is a sad commentary on how our justice system evolves.
Ah, white officers to be treated as blacks? Will I see it in my lifetime? I still remember the black men in Africa that snapped. The next day after slaughtering their neighbors they said they had no idea what happen. All of a sudden they became enragged. out of nowhere. Sounds like chemicals to me. Was Putin testing out the rage drug on humans? Seems that way to me.
?? Wait, what? please jump off of the conspiracy theory bandwagon... utter nonsense. Of course, they are going to play dumb and feign ignorance/deny it. Their gooses are cooked and they have been advised to totally stonewall and make up something for incompetence/insanity... anything to not face the music. basic survival instinct.
Concur completely.
Thank you for once again articulating your compassionate and considered response to this barbarity. One thought that just struck me as to taking a concrete step in the direction of reforming our deeply-ingrained racist police practices would be to assign independent civilian oversight to inspect *all* police body-cams. It occurred to me that the *only* reason this horror came to light is that Tyre Nichols died. Had he not succumbed to the police brutality, the public would, most likely, never have heard a peep about this assault (and, I’m pretty sure the charged former-police offenders were also assuming that “their subject” wouldn’t die, even as they were attacking him). We need thorough, comprehensive, and utterly transparent oversight of all of our police departments’s practices to begin building the case that our current law-enforcement is irreparably broken, and that only a complete overhaul can address the deep flaws inherent in its current structure.
God help me, it seems that Mr. Nichols was, like so many have voiced as of late, targeted in some way to be “taught a lesson for others to learn.” Meaning “fear the police. If you do not comply, or even if you do, if they have made up their minds or have been instructed in any way to produce an outcome, you are the sacrificial lamb. And for those of color, and those of us who support their plight, once they have targeted you, is there no way out? We think of Martin Luther King’s message and way of non-violence. Should we just prepare to die? I am still reminded of Bosnia. From Mark Hertling, a post from 2020: Gosh, illegal checkpoints set up by militias that aren’t taken down by police forces...where have I seen that before? BOSNIA. As you suggest, I need to listen to the voices of those who must be heard, tonight and in the coming days. Thank you for all you write that is so inspiring.
How can this be understood? I am just heartbroken and baffled. But, we must find answers. Man’s inhumanity to man is overwhelming.