First of all, I would like to beg for the indulgence and forgiveness of the family and friends of Tyre Nichols for bringing up the matter of his death and thus help perpetuate the pain arising from the brutal circumstances that it came about. Obviously, I do not know Nichols and got to hear of him only after the tragic news broke. But his death leaves open so many questions that demand answers. A few have not been asked, so I will.
But first a little backgrounder. Tyre Nichols was a 29-year-old African-American who lived in Memphis, Tennessee, and drove for FedEx for a living. He was the father of a young son, aged four. On the night of January 7, he was pulled over by Memphis police ostensibly for reckless driving and got beaten up black and blue by five officers. He died in the hospital on January 10 from his injuries.
On January 27, police body cam video and surveillance video footages of the beating were released to the public. Only then were protests held across cities in the United States. And even then, the protests generally were peaceful, almost subdued. There was hardly a stir from the time of the beating to the time of the video release, a good 20 days. There was no media frenzy but in the anticipatory hours just prior.
Previous similar incidents never failed to plunge America into near-revolution. Burning, looting, physical attacks, vandalism. You name it. Almost every violent act except for murder always happens when an African-American person gets physically abused in acts of patent police brutality. So what happened this time? What made the Tyre Nichols case different?
In the 20 days between the attack and the video release, the Black Lives Matter Movement was not at the forefront of any major activity similar to those for which it had gained a name for. If at all, there was only silent grief and seething anger. But no break-out-into-the-open sort of demonstration. Even Don Lemon was not his usual angry self over things such as this.
It is not that I would rather have things otherwise, that I long to see things erupt in violence or descend into anarchy. That is something that I would not wish upon a land where many Filipinos have relatives and friends dependent on a peaceful means of earning a living. But I cannot help but notice the difference this time, a difference that has nothing to do with calls to make the protests peaceful.
I think the real reason is the fact that the five Memphis police officers who physically assaulted Tyre Nichols were all African-American men themselves. And while there is no taking away the brutal and savage inhumanity with which the law was miscarried by these officers, I think and I believe the fact that they were not Caucasian or white took away a great deal of any automatic compulsion to rise up in violent protest.
That a black life did not matter (Tyre was screaming for help from his mom, for God's sake!) to five black police officers left the Black Lives Matter Movement with a shaky leg to stand on in this case. Because any finger that needs to be pointed in this abuse of a black person will end up getting pointed not just to one but to five other persons who are all black themselves. Nothing is more deflating than internecine conflict of values.
And because of this, I do not think the Black Lives Matter Movement will ever be able to recoup the moral strength it had prior to the Tyre Nichols case. This case put the movement, and people like Don Lemon on the spot. Thankfully for them, there is still wiggle room to salvage what they can. There is failure of police procedures, for one. Character evaluation is another. They can dwell on that, but with skin color out, only very limply.