• In the wake of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, the nation’s leadership class was presented with a crossroads: to radically rethink American policing, or to retreat to the safety of piecemeal reform.
• Tyre Nichols’ death in Memphis, TN in January 2021 is a reminder of the limitations of reform.
• Five officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder after the release of four video clips depicting the officers’ excessive use of violence.
• The race of the officers (all five were Black) sparked debate about the role of race in police violence.
• The timely release of information and forthright steps to hold the officers accountable likely prevented civil unrest.
• The Memphis Police Department had a Black woman police chief, a majority-Black workforce, body cameras, de-escalation training, and a duty-to-intervene policy, yet Tyre Nichols was still killed.
• The city had responded to a record-high 342 murders in 2021 by deploying the SCORPION unit, a task force of 40 officers instructed to “be tough on tough people.”
• Vice President Kamala Harris attended Tyre Nichols’ funeral, where his mother said she believed her son was sent on an assignment from God.
• The article discusses the legacy of James Baldwin and Derrick Bell, two influential Black American writers and activists.
• Baldwin wrote about the Atlanta child murders in 1979, and Bell wrote the foreword to the 1996 paperback edition of Baldwin’s book, Evidence.
• Bell developed a theory called “interest convergence,” which posits that America’s white majority takes strides toward racial equality only when white people see doing so as in their own best interest.
• The article also discusses the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man killed by police in Atlanta in 2021.
• At the funeral, activist Amber Sherman outlined the family’s demands for accountability and reform.
• Sharpton discussed the need for legislation to end qualified immunity and make it a crime for a cop to stand by and watch another officer brutalize a civilian.
• He concluded that movements take time, but that he and other activists will continue to fight for justice.
Published February 8, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Wesley Lowery’s original post Why There Was No Racial Reckoning
