What is the rational response?
Tyre Nichols was a 29-year-old father who enjoyed skateboarding and was a gifted photographer. His friends said he was “a lover of sunsets,” “a free spirit,” and had fallen in love with Memphis since his move there from Sacramento in 2020.
On Jan. 10, Tyre died from injuries sustained three days prior, when he was pulled over and beaten by Memphis police officers.
To ask “at what cost?” is too repetitive a question, especially when “the ultimate cost” is the one being paid, again and again, with no preventative actions taking hold. If there were, I wouldn’t be writing about the death of Tyre Nichols.
Yes, we all know there are excellent police officers. I am thankful to know several who are a credit to their badge and to the public. But when someone you care about unnecessarily dies at the hands of an officer, you aren’t thinking of the good cops. When round table meetings in your home involve “This Is What You Do If You Get Pulled Over” discussions with your kids, you aren’t focused on the latter.
No one wants to fear the police. People want to be able to trust those who have sworn to protect the public, protect civil liberties. But because there has been so much death — so much horror and loss — at the hands of public servants, fear is the rational response when you are a Black person in the United States of America.
My Black friends and loved ones are constantly having conversations with their children — rehearsing best practices. There are family meetings and phone calls about the safest behaviors to have in case anyone should ever be pulled over.
Several of my friends have sent their children off to college over the past few years. Parents already face such overwhelming anxiety sending their kids out into the world. Add to that the possibility that your child could be killed due to the color of his or her skin, if the wrong police officer pulls him or her over.
Lifetimes are being wiped out by people who are supposed to Know better. Do better. Be better.
The only way to comfort is to bring change. Bills and policies that could bring police reform are collecting dust on the steps of the U.S. Senate.
Sonia Pruitt is a retired Montgomery County, Maryland, police captain who has 28 years of combined experience in law enforcement. In an article for CNN she recently stated, “The federal policing bill that bears George Floyd’s name failed to pass in the Senate and efforts to end qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that protects police officers from being held personally liable for violating a person’s rights, have not succeeded in Congress.”
Hashtags and profile pictures are a way we show solidarity, but have not motivated change where it must happen. Bills must be passed. Laws must be changed.
“Proof of success will come when we never again hear the plaintive cries of a Black man calling for his mother while being brutalized,” said Pruitt.
On his photography website, Tyre wrote the following:
“People have a story to tell. Why not capture it instead of doing the ‘norm’ and writing it down or speaking it. I hope to one day let people see what I see. So on that note enjoy my page and let me know what you think. Your friend, Tyre D. Nichols”
Your photos are beautiful, Tyre. I wish we could have seen more.