On January 7th, 2023, Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old unarmed Black man, was pepper-sprayed, tased, and beaten by five black Memphis police officers, all of whom began with a traffic stop. Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving by two officers at an intersection. A third officer pulls up, firearm already drawn, and at once Nichols is pulled out of his car and ordered to get on the ground. Despite him already being on the ground, the officers grow increasingly frustrated, giving unnecessary demands and proceeding to threaten Nichols. After getting pepper-sprayed, Nichols flees the scene, where he is pursued and later confronted hundreds of feet away from his car by a total of five officers. As shown by a street camera, the officers are seen punching and kicking Nichols, as they yell orders at him. Nichols's barely conscious body is even struck with a baton three times. According to the NY Times, the officers shouted at least 71 commands for 13 minutes before they reported over the radio that Nichols was officially in custody.
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I was 14 when I learned about this case, and as I sat in my bedroom at night, reading the article, it made me so upset. Seeing how a procedure that should’ve been quick and easy was taken too far didn’t make any sense to me. As I watched the video captured by the street camera, I was filled with so much horror that I didn’t know whether to yell out of frustration or cry. Tyre Nichols did not pose any physical threat to the police officers and complied with their commands. Yet, he was brutally assaulted without proper reasoning by people who looked just like him, who had much to live for, and people to care about. Sadly, three days after his arrest, Nichols died in the hospital. Tyre Nichols is one of many black individuals who have lost their lives in the hands of a civil force that is meant to uphold law and order, to ensure the safety and peace of its citizens. Instead, this same force has abused its power and inflicted harm on the people it is supposed to protect. Such mistreatment is an example of police brutality. Police brutality, as defined, is the use of excessive and unjustified force by police when dealing with the public and is considered a civil rights violation. Nichols and others have been denied their basic rights and are silenced from reacting or speaking up against the injustice they may face. There is an unbalanced power dynamic that takes place between the police and Black Americans, which continues to plague black communities. Why is it that some police officers feel the need to pull a gun or approach a black person defensively, as if the color of their skin is already a crime? As if their simple breath is a threat to society? |
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Furthermore, the arrest made by the five Memphis police officers, for example, is of similar conduct to slave patrolling. Slave patrolling is an early form of policing that originated in the South, where patrollers were responsible for controlling the movements and behaviors of enslaved populations. These patrols were an organized terror that chased down slaves, sought to prevent rebellion, and maintained discipline, mainly with the use of violence. They often beat and terrorized them, and felt they were legally compelled to do so. In both cases, the police hid behind their badges and formal wear, disguised as enforcers of the law, but really were individuals with tyrannical authority who, with their power, further oppressed black Americans and instilled terror among them.
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However, the issue does not solely reside with these police officers. Policing in America is fundamentally built on a system that has discriminated against black people and still refuses to acknowledge its historic faults and how that affects public trust today. Given that the police officers in Tyre Nichols’ case were black, it's hard to comprehend why they did what they did, and the fact that justice has yet to be served, to this day, is a great question. As of October 7, 2025, one of the officers is free on bond, and three others await a new federal trial after the original judge withdrew from the case. All in all, I don’t believe that all police officers are corrupt, nor is policing itself immoral; if policing did not exist, I feel like crime and violence would run rampant. However, I do believe that the culture of policing is flawed. There are individuals within the system who hold biases that have been hidden or ignored, and they carry out their jobs without being held accountable, despite being subject to the law. This should not be. The black Americans that police officers arrest, abuse, and more, are human, just like them. Thinking back to the murder of George Floyd, the police officer who deliberately put his knee on George Floyd’s neck did not care to remove it as bystanders pleaded, saying he could not breathe and that he had become unconscious. It was sickening to see this arrest take place in broad daylight, and how an officer still abused his power as recently as 2020. Such an injustice caused fear in many Black Americans and made them question whether or not their safety is guaranteed in the hands of the police. |
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It’s amazing, however, to have witnessed such a global uproar of protests in response to his death. On my for you page on TikTok, it didn’t take long for me to see a video of someone with face paint lip-syncing the “no freedom till we’re equal” song. At the time, I was empowered to live in a time when so much of the world boldly stood up against police brutality. During a protest downtown, as I watched my family’s car drive past large groups of protesters, chills ran down my spine, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. The desire to participate in activism likely stemmed from learning about racial injustice as I grew up, and seeing films such as “The Hate U Give”. To have seen Starr, the main character, stand up for Khalil, her best friend who was shot by the police, despite the external threats and personal risks, was deeply moving. Her character development was raw and empowering, and it stands to emphasize the necessity of speaking up against injustice, whether or not it directly affects you. |
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There’s a phrase penned by Tupac Shakur, which inspired the title of this movie, that goes “The Hate U Give Little Infants F***S Everybody”, or in short, T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. The phrase relates to how the hate children see in black/marginalized communities (whether systemic oppression, violence, or poverty) creates a cycle of generational trauma that will affect society. Tupac’s philosophy speaks to how black children are often a product of their environment, but that thug life was made to be a symbol of their struggle, and how it represents resilience and survival. It’s harmful for children to be exposed to situations such as police violence because they can grow up thinking the police are against them, and not for them. They may feel as if they are powerless, or have to strive just to be heard, to be seen, to be treated as human beings, which shouldn’t be. Until a major change is made in the way police officers treat black people, and generally people of color, we must say the names of people who have been killed or deeply affected by police brutality. Saying their names brings awareness and light to this injustice, and it helps people recognize that precious lives need to be protected, not taken away.
Ultimately, police brutality is an obstacle that has endured for too long; we must tackle the roots of policing in the US and consider reforming the system. Criminal charges and convictions for officers involved in police brutality should not be rare. Not to mention, policing needs to be examined not just in the US, but in other countries, where misogyny, racism, violence, and more remain unaddressed and accepted. I believe taking action, such as reviewing and addressing police policies and doing extensive background checks, is a good start. However, this issue is one aspect of racism, and how it prevents society from seeing one another as people, as beings who all need love. Nonetheless, change has to start somewhere, and like Dr Martin Luther King Jr. once said in his Letter to Birmingham in 1963, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…..Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly." The more we expose cases of injustice in the system, the more we as a society can address those issues and create a system of policing that is truly for the people, for every citizen in America, no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, etc. It's not just about protecting black communities, but about saving the lives of anyone, especially people of color, who have an encounter with the police. It’s time to wake up.
