There is a short joyous video of Tyre Nichols skateboarding (he was very good) around Memphis, and I suggest you look at that instead of the horrific and savage beating video; see Nichols in his glory and think of his life this way and consider the world of infinite possibilities that lay before him before the Police snuffed his candle out.
Nichols could be your spouse, your friend, your brother, your father, your kid. We live in a dangerous place at a dangerous time. It has always been this way for Black Americans and it doesn’t look like it is getting any better.
He joins a long list of Black Americans killed by the police:
#TrayvonMartin*
#TamirRice*
#GeorgeFloyd
#FreddieGray
#SamDubose
#PhilandoCastile
#TerenceCrutcher
#AltonSterling
#JamarClark
#JeremyMcDole
#WilliamChapman II
#WalterScott
#EricHarris
#AkaiGurley
#MichaelBrown
#EricGarner
There are so many, many more.
It only took a moment of Googling to find the names of these men, and frankly I was too depressed to look for the women killed by the police; I am sure they have as long of a list.
Every death at the hands of the police diminishes us as Americans, we all have a stake in our civic lives and national reputation; how can we stand for Human Rights abroad when we have killings like this at home?
*Correction from Scissorhead Buttermilk Sky in the comments. We regret the error.
Mock Paper Scissors 
We have to stand against all such killings everywhere.
But, agreed; I’ve sometimes skipped making polite suggestions to other countries (with Amnesty) because I’m too embarrassed about stuff in my own country, who doesn’t seem to listen. It’s exhausting and demoralizing except when sometimes things happen that help. FWIW.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Sometimes giving a man a badge with inadequate training only empowers their lurking inner thug. I remember a time when cops got hired in my small town with absolutely no training whatsoever. Had a few run-ins, but never felt endangered. Not sure when it all went South, but here we are…
LikeLike
It’s A Clockwork Orange come to life…(sorry for the really bad grainy video)
LikeLike
These guys were worse…they’re a gang-within-a-gang in Memphis: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tyre-nichols-former-memphis-police-officer-scorpion-unit/
LikeLike
And say the name of the guy who is training police all over the country that it’s kill or be killed out there: Dave Grossman.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/dave-grossman-training-police-militarization/
This guy is applying a combat mindset that overrides any notion of ‘to protect and serve’.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The tragedy of war is NOT that young men are sent to die, the tragedy is that they are sent to kill. Col Grossman is not a trainer he is a motivational speaker. He deals in emotion not fact. He does not teach killing he teaches what he believes is how to survive killing and the fear of being killed. He did not discover how to raise the kill ratio of combat soldiers but that the majority will not take life even at the cost of their own. You mischaracterized his work. PTSD kills. We are all warriors against fear.
“Defending the weak does not always have to be done with the business end of a gun. Social workers, first responders, teachers, and anyone else who, by choice, stands up to defend the bereft against perceived injustices emulate this mode of thinking.” Mike
LikeLike
I don’t think I’m mis-characterizing his work. If you are teaching that civilians are an enemy force, that you need a militarized mindset to deal with the rest of the population, then tragedy will play out again and again, as we are seeing in real-time.
I’ve watched his videos and read numerous articles about his approach. I think it is misguided.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally agree that he is misguided. War is all about eliminating threat and that threat work is a very small part of civilian policing best handled by well trained professionals. (Always in short supply no matter the industry).
Why he has chosen the myopic point of view he has I have no clue. It seems to be doing real harm. Even in the military the vast majority of jobs do not require a person to kill.
A (too me) fascinating statement from Killology is he estimates that only 3% of humans can put another to death without psychological harm and that 2% of them are likely insane.
Sadly I believe you are prescient in predicting repeats into the future but the footsteps behind are lost in the fog. It is times like this that I wish I had listened to my mother, but alas I did not listen.
LikeLike
You’ve conflated Tamir Rice with Trayvon Martin, but the rest is, sadly, right on.
LikeLike
This was done by black cops, and no Klan was involved. Is this reverse racism, or is there even such a thing? Cops in other countries don’t seem to kill for sport, why the heck is it popular here?
w3ski
LikeLike
I saw a comment somewhere, now I can’t remember where, to wit:
The race of cops is cops.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Because police in this country have always been a tool of the powerful to oppress the powerless.
The ‘binds, but does not protect’ part of Wilhoit’s law.
The Detective Joe Friday’s and Officer Malloy’s of Hollywood were always fiction, and the police have always recruited from the oppressed classes to use them as cudgels against those oppressed classes..
LikeLike
You left off Breona Taylor. and going back further the horrifying stoy of Aiyana Jones’ death at the hands of of police.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/aiyana-stanley-jones-detroit/
(sadly, I found that because I couldn’t immediately remember Breona’s name and googled ‘woman killed by swat team’ which brought up ‘About 24,700,000 results (0.27 seconds) ‘)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was too depressed (as I said) to start looking for the women who were killed. I just didn’t have it in me to do it again.
Thank you for taking a swing at it.
Rgds,
TG
LikeLike
I know…I cannot begin to imagine living in that environment.
LikeLike
Tyre Nichols was also a photographer.
This violence is all so very sad and a terrible waste and disgusting and seemingly unsolvable in Amurkkka.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Apparently, he was trying to take a picture of the sunset when the cops showed up. According to his mother, allegedly.
Word is that a couple of other cops showed up a bit late and, I forget, watched? joined? Anyway, they weren’t charged. They were a couple of white cops from the unit. So they say.
LikeLike
Eleanor Bumpurs and Michael Stewart, immortalized by Lou Reed in “Hold On” on his New York album
LikeLiked by 1 person
Breonna Taylor. Yes, say their names, say them loud and often. NEVER forget!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person