No, racism did not motivate the tragic killing of Tyre Nichols.
No, racism did not motivate the tragic killing of Tyre Nichols.
Cries of racism persist, even though the perpetrators and victim are the same race. This faulty diagnosis is divisive and dangerous.
When doctors diagnose a grave illness, they’ll generally prescribe a staggering, long-term treatment plan. But what if the diagnosis is wrong in the first place?
In the horrific killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, footage released by authorities shows five Black police officers beating the 29 year-old Black father to a pulp. Nichols died three days later. This violence is appalling and unnecessary; its roots complex. So why does headline after headline blame this deadly encounter on racism?
Aside from the obvious woke virtue signaling, the flawed argument usually centers on America’s systemic racism, and how these officers internalized certain stereotypes. (This is the same logic that inspired the controversial Critical Race Theory.)
Related, there’s the allegation of a “toxic police culture”. It theorizes that officers are trained (implicitly or not) to view and treat Black people differently, regardless of the officer’s race. Because as a Colorado Sun writer dramatically put it, “blue often runs deeper than any color”.
Essentially, the racism argument implies that these five police officers, now charged with second-degree murder, are subconsciously biased against members of their own race.
This would be difficult to prove – and delving into an officer’s subconscious might not make a difference anyway. Recently, researchers studied the effectiveness of police implicit bias training. They “found no meaningful change” in the officers’ actions with regard to ethnic disparities in traffic stops, arrests and other interactions.
The role of alleged implicit bias in this case - that these Black officers were “driven by racism” - is not only divisive and misguided. The allegation itself is ironically racist.
It assumes that Black people see themselves wholly through the lens of their skin color. It’s an offensive assumption that reduces Black Americans to being completely one-dimensional, solely consumed with and driven by racial injustice.
Just as a single characteristic cannot define a person, neither can their actions fit neatly into one box of causality versus another. The oversimplified accusation that these officers were motivated by racism is a grave misdiagnosis that will only deepen America’s divide.
What happens when a doctor incorrectly identifies an illness? The wrong treatments are prescribed, often worsening the condition rather than effectively treating it.
Finding an actual “cure” for police brutality won’t magically emerge while we’re choosing sides and hurling insults. It will only happen when Americans from divergent racial, economic and political backgrounds are able to pool their unique knowledge and life experiences, and collectively come up with meaningful and plausible solutions.
Our society has the power to dictate whether Tyre Nichols will have died in vain - or whether his tragic death inspires meaningful progress toward a different outcome, should a similar situation inevitably arise.
Nichols had a four-year old son, enjoyed skateboarding and photography, and worked the second shift at FedEx with his stepdad. He was just two minutes from home when he was pulled over for reckless driving. If there’s one small way to embark on the path to healing, it’s this: let’s agree that unprovoked, deadly violence like this can – and absolutely should be – prevented.