Troy activists protest police violence
TROY — A day after video footage was released of the beating of a 29year-old Black motorist by police in Memphis, Tenn., protesters were outside Troy City Hall.
While the beating and death of Tyre Nichols occurred more than 1,000 miles away, Troy activists said Saturday it drew attention to needed reforms in the city.
“It could be in our backyard next,” Marketa Edwards, co-founder and co-director of the advocacy group Community Rising Project, said. “And it is in our backyard.”
Edwards and other protesters pointed to the death of Edson Thevenin, who was killed by Troy police Sgt. Randall French in 2016 during a traffic stop on the Collar City Bridge. They also took issue with the Troy City Council’s decision to hire six more police officers in 2021, despite residents’ objections.
The protest was organized by the groups Troy4Blacklives, the Community Rising Project and the Abolition Committee of the Troy DSA.
Activist Anastasia Robertson said they had a list they were asking the city to undertake, including reforming the city’s civilian review board to have subpoena power and representation of at least 60 percent of civilians most impacted by violence.
Robertson said the current board is effectively toothless when it comes to police accountability.
The video released Friday shows Nichols being beaten for three minutes by five officers, who are also Black. The officers are heard screaming profanities at him, eventually leaving him propped against a squad car as they fist-bump and celebrate.
Robertson said diversifying police forces is not the entire answer to police brutality.
“What are you teaching these people?” she said. “Why do these police officers think it’s OK?”