Again we find ourselves horrified as we watch fuzzy, blurry, hard-to-follow video of angry men wearing badges, carrying guns, beating a black man to death. It happened in the middle of the street. And the police were so comfortable in their actions that they didn't care that they were being videotaped with their own body cams. They were in their element. They were casual. They were focused. They were like animals. And they were in it together.
After they punched, kicked, tazed, pepper sprayed and taunted Tyre, they dragged him to the police car and propped him up. Then they stood around laughing, joking, ignoring the dying man. It was five officers who beat him, but there were many more just milling around ... all of them ignoring the now silent, injured, dying Tyre Nichols. All of them were accessories to this crime for not intervening, for not helping, for not once saying "Stop" to their fellow officers. Each time Tyre slumped over, officers roughly pushed him back up to a sitting position and talked to him like he was worthless and not deserving of any kindness or consideration. He was nothing to them.
And were those EMTs or paramedics who came and looked at Tyre, but did nothing to help him? They did nothing. They just stood and added to the crowd of uniformed men standing around. Milling around. They reminded me of the paramedics who came to Eric Garner's aid after he was left barely conscious and barely breathing on a New York city sidewalk after his encounter with police. Those paramedics/EMTs/whatever title they claim also did nothing for Eric and I always wondered why they weren't charged with dereliction of duty or negligence or malpractice or something? Anything.
What was uncommon about this story is that all the officers were black. What was also uncommon is that the officers were immediately fired, arrested, and charged with murder. Why were they charged so quickly? Was it because the officers are black? I say yes. That is exactly why.
I just watched an interview with Tyre's mother. Her poise, her strength, her gentleness, and her ability to pray for the officers who murdered her son is stunning to me. I am embarrassed to say that I would not be capable of that level of grace if this was my son. Listening to her talk speaks volumes to the kind of son she raised. By showing us who she is, she let us know who Tyre was ... a gentle soul, just like her.