Last updated on February 6, 2023
Flash Staff
The public continues to be outraged following the release of bodycam and CCTV footage showing the brutal beating death of Memphis resident Tyre Nichols.
Nichols, who succumbed to his injuries on Jan. 10, three days after five Memphis policeman in the now disbanded Scorpion unit, performed a traffic stop that ended with Nichols being, punched, kicked, tased and pepper sprayed for almost 30 minutes, was laid to rest on Feb. 1.
According to WREG in Memphis, the five former policeman, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr., were charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of official misconduct and official oppression. They have all since bonded out.
The report also stated that two additional officers have been relieved of duty and three first responders were fired.
Dwayne Joseph, a Memphis native, was outraged when he saw the footage.
“After looking at the video, I was disgusted at the way those police officers mistreated Tyre. Regardless of whether he ran from them or whatever they’re trying to say he did, the situation should not have gone down like that,” said Joseph.
He added, “I was relieved at the way the police chief handled the situation by disbanding the SCORPION Unit. That showed me that the city is trying to go in a right direction when it comes to being there for the city.”
Markyel Pittman, MS NAACP Youth and College President and JSU NAACP Chapter President provided the following statement to The Flash on the murder of Tyre Nichols:
The Mississippi NAACP Youth and College Division would like to send its sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Tyre Nichols. We feel especially impacted since Mr. Nichols was around our age group.
We are outraged and distraught about the circumstances that led to Tyre’s death and we believe that justice should be served. This is yet another incident that brings trauma, and pain to the African American Community. It saddens us that we feel unprotected and systematically targeted by police officers. It is even more distressing that the officers that have perpetrated the targeting of Tyre Nichols are black. This illuminates the fact that law enforcement’s disregard for the value of African American life is institutional in nature.
It pains us that our fight has existed for generations within our race and is still present today. When society thinks that we are moving forward; the actions that lead to Tyre Nichols death push us back further. As future leaders, we will continue to strive and advocate for justice and speak out in support of racial justice.
Other Jackson State students were disgusted by the released footage.
Kaiden Ivey, a sophomore accounting major from Tulsa, Okla. said, “The Tyre Nichols case will affect the community’s perception about law enforcement because it’s not just our counterparts that we have to worry about but each and every officer, even the ones that look like us.”
One JSU student feels race expedited the arrests of the officers.
“Well of course I think it’s tragic, but I also feel like there’s no reason all five of these black cops got their consequences (so quickly), but every time a white officer kills an innocent black person, in the same light, he keeps his job and walks free,” said A’sha Branch, a freshman biology/pre-medicine major from Houston, Texas.
Branch added, “Systemic racism is a real thing and it’s disgusting. Yes, this young man absolutely deserves his justice, but what about all the other young men who deserve theirs too?”
Department of Political Science Chair Maurice Mangum, Ph.D., also believes systemic racism is in play with this case.
“When we think about these instances where police officers have been arrested, charged and fired, at least quickly, it’s always been a black police officer or at least a police officer of color, so there is some validity to the race of the officer,” said Mangum. “Now the other part of the equation that some people are thinking about is well, the chief of police is a black woman so how does that play into this? She’s the one who created this crime unit to go out with the name SCORPION (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods) as an acronym to go out there and engage in aggressive policing. Well, this is still systemic racism (racism which leads to discrimination based on race and ethnicity).
Mangum added, “Because why did the police chief create such a unit? And why did those black police officers get in that unit? Because they know that this is acceptable policing. They know that they can do that. And why can they do that? Because it’s systemic racism.”
Mangum explains that systemic racism in this case is that some people believe that black people are prone to commit crimes, they are violent, up to no good, and so you are going to have to be aggressive and violent when dealing with them.
“That’s the purpose of that unit, is that they were going to do different type of policing. And why did they get away with it up until this point? Because nobody cares what happens to black citizens,” Mangum said.
JSU Department of History professor Joshua Cotton, who is also Activities Coordinator for Institute for Social Justice and Race Relations, also weighed in on the case.
“There is a long, well-known history of systemic violence and abuse of power from police against minority communities, particularly the black community. Here (Jackson State), we still keep the bullet holes in Alexander (Residence Hall) as a reminder of how little our lives can matter and how quickly a police-involved incident can turn into an attempted massacre,” said Cotton. “Incidents such as this one in Memphis reinforce the general distrust of police and the criminal justice system. When officers take an unarmed man’s life over a traffic incident, we can’t help but to feel rage and indignation because as easily as it was this man, it could have been any of us.”
Cotton added, “The break down between justice and those who are tasked to enforce it is one of the greatest threats to a society and that breaking point in America has always been against black bodies. It’s a self-destructive cycle as police are trained of the imminent danger of their jobs and begin seeing threats around every corner and black people seeing the threat coming from behind those flashing blue lights and badges.”
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