FINDING JUSTICE IN THE CASE OF TYRE NICHOLS

Our heartfelt prayers and condolences go out to Mrs. Row Vaughn Wells and Mr. Rodney Wells, the parents of Mr. Tyre Nichols. We admire the courage, clarity and strength they have exhibited in the wake of the horrific and senseless death of their son. We pray for their continued strength and comfort.

There never seems to be the right time to seriously address police reform in this nation. The culture of violence and guns is pervasive, not just in the streets of inner-city neighborhoods, but in rural towns, urban enclaves, private homes and government capitals.

Police reform was throttled in the U.S. Senate last year, despite passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The archaic Senate filibuster required that ten U.S. Senators would have to cross the partisan divide to create reasonable national guardrails for police accountability. Once again, despite global protests and best efforts of Senator Cory Booker and Representative Karen Bass. the reform effort stalled.

Every time one of these events occurs, the public learns something new. They occur with such regularity that we have learned a lot about police culture. With Rodney King we learned the value of video cameras. With Breanna Taylor we learned that it is dangerous for Black folk to stand their ground in their own home. In Baltimore we learned what it meant to give a “rough ride”, something not taught in any police academy. With Sandra Bland we learned how dangerous it could be to refuse to put out a cigarette. From George Floyd, we learned that police officers have a duty to stop the egregious behavior of their comrades in blue and render aid to helpless victims. And now, we are learning lessons from Tyre. We are learning the extent to which Black officers are equally susceptible to excessive violence, even against Black persons. There is something euphemistically called a “tune up”, that some aggressive police units use to punish a suspect who has the temerity to flee. It should be self-evident that the role of police is to apprehend, not to punish.

If the state and federal legislatures cannot curb police violence and establish accountability, perhaps reform will come from the free market. The Washington Post reported in September, 2022, “Where community activists, use-of-force victims and city officials have failed to persuade police departments to change dangerous and sometimes deadly policing practices, insurers are successfully dictating changes to tactics and policies, mostly at small to medium-size departments throughout the nation. The movement is driven by the increasingly large jury awards and settlements that cities and their insurers are paying in police use-of-force cases, especially since the 2020 deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Those cases led to settlements of $12 million and $27 million, respectively. Insurance companies are passing the costs — and potential future costs — on to their law enforcement clients.”

We are not surprised that protests so far have been peaceful. The protests are adopting the tenor of the man in whose memory they are taking place. In the face of barbaric behavior, Tyre was the person who tried de-escalation, something the screaming, cursing, kicking police officers never attempted. Apparently, his demeanor in the face of terror was learned from his mother. Mrs. Wells, Tyre’s mother, dealing with unspeakable loss, is consoling the nation by reminding us that some good will come from her son’s ordeal, because he was a good person.

Sisters in Law affirms its commitment to the struggle for justice and equal protection under law and will continue to advocate for sustainable law enforcement reform.