• Reverend Earle Fisher preached at Trinity Christian Methodist Episcopal on Sunday, two days after the release of video footage of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by five police officers.
• Fisher connected a passage in the Gospel of Mark to the present day, critiquing the crowd for not asking why there are so many sick people.
• Despite the quick response from Memphis officials, Memphians worry about whether policing in Memphis can and will change more fundamentally.
• Memphis is both underpoliced and overpoliced, with activists pressing for reform of the troubled police department and a sharp rise in violent crime.
• Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder, two officers have been suspended, and two sheriff’s deputies and three firefighters have been fired.
• Memphis activists are celebrating the swift response, but they are also pushing for more fundamental changes to the police department.
• Bishop Marvin Frank Thomas Sr. said that it’s not the color of the officers, but the culture of the police department that needs to change.
• The article discusses the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who was killed by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee.
• The officers were part of the SCORPION unit, a specialized police unit that was supposed to be a marquee crime-fighting initiative.
• The unit has been disbanded, but many people are skeptical that it will stay that way.
• The article also discusses the current police chief, C. J. Davis, who is the first Black female police chief in the city’s history.
• Critics say that Davis is a puppet of the mayor and that she has no power to make real changes to the police department.
• The article also discusses the protests that have taken place in response to Nichols’ death, as well as the people who have visited the spot where he was killed.
Published February 3, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read David A. Graham’s original post The Stubborn Pathology of Police Culture