By now most people have heard of the case of Tyre Nichols the twenty-nine year-old Memphian beaten to death by five police officers, aided by the negligence of emergency workers at the scene. (1) But there are some who are refusing to watch citing its broadcast as “exploiting Black trauma.” (2) Given that this represents the “fourth time someone had been murdered by police in the last two months,” the trauma is real and part of a “Police Brutality Crisis Facing Black Residents” in the USA that is also centuries old. (3)
But we have also never been short of efforts to confront it. In the month where we commemorate the life, legacy and ultimate sacrifice of the Eminent Prophet Omowale Malcolm X, including the annual observance on the 19th of this month (https://alkebulan.org/omxobservance/), we could do a lot worse than to explore how he addressed this issue. Indeed, the Organization of Afro-American Unity, whose programme he was to present at his assassination, includes Self Defence among its five-part “Basic Unity Programme” (alongside Restoration, Reorientation, Education and Economic security):
“In order to enslave a people and keep them subjugated, their right to self-defense must be denied. They must be constantly terrorized, brutalized, and murdered… appetite for blood increases daily and whose deeds of depravity seem to be openly encouraged by all law enforcement agencies… The Organization of Afro-American Unity, being aware of the increased violence being visited upon the Afro-American and of the open sanction of this violence and murder by the police departments throughout this country and the federal agencies — do affirm our right and obligation to defend ourselves in order to survive as a people… The Organization of Afro-American Unity will take those private steps that are necessary to insure the survival of the Afro-American people in the face of racist aggression and the defense of our women and children… the Organization of Afro-American Unity advocates that the Afro-American people insure ourselves that justice is done — whatever the price and by any means necessary.” (4)
Given that the five officers charged with murder are in some sense from the community, there has been attempts, particularly in right-wing media to deflect from this history in order to absolve white supremacy. (5) .
Nevetheless, we are seeing law enforcement officers categorised as Afrikan increasingly involved in brutalising Afrikan people to death. In fact, this class of “Leading Blacks,” as opposed to Black Leaders, whether as police, officers, police chiefs, lawyers or elected officials we appear to be seeing more Afrikans implicated either in atrocities against us or their cover-up – be it in Memphis, New Jersey, Baltimore or London, as was the case with Oladeji Adeyemi Omishore who died after being tasered repeatedly in June last year. (6)
The Tyre Nichols case certainly presents a challenge to the ‘have to be in the system to change it’ narrative. There are also suggestions that it is a training issue, and while it is true that US police need fewer hours of training than American plumbers and cosmetologists, (7) the “lessons learned” trope following another atrocity is simply inadequate. (8) A lack of training would not cause a supposedly specialized unit formed to fight violent street crime could condescend to doing traffic stops, nor would it cause them to bark “seventy-one swift and contradictory commands in just 13 minutes” (one about every eleven seconds). (9)
Mama Marimba Ani once said that “When the enemy looks like us it’s harder to fight.” (10) However, Ancestor Nana Amos Wilson over three decades ago helped us to overstand why this enemy looks like us when he argued that Black-On-Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in Service of White Domination. Marshalled by the new “Black misleadership class” they are akin to the house negro that Omowale Malcolm referred when speaking to the grassroots. (10) In fact they are much worse.
(1) Clarissa-Jan Lim (30/01/23) The Memphis Fire Department Has Fired Three People Who Responded To Treat Tyre Nichols. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/clarissajanlim/tyre-nichols-emt-fire-department
(2) Libor Jany (29/01/23) In the city where Tyre Nichols was killed, some refuse to watch beating video that ‘exploits’ Black grief. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-01-29/in-the-city-where-tyre-nichols-was-killed-some-are-refusing-to-watch-beating-video-that-exploits-black-grief
(3) Democracy Now! (27/01/23) Memphis BLM Activist: Tyre Nichols’ Killing Is Part of Police Brutality Crisis Facing Black Residents. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/27/tyre_nichols_police_beating_murder_charges; Keisha N. Blain (30/05/20) Violence in Minneapolis is rooted in the history of racist policing in America. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/05/30/violence-minneapolis-is-rooted-history-racist-policing-america/
(4) Organization of Afro-American Unity (15/02/65) Program of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. https://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/gen_oaau.htm
(5) Thomas Chatterton Williams (01/02/23) Not Every Atrocity Is About White Supremacy. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/tyre-nichols-white-supremacy-racism/672903/; Tom Slater (01/02/23) Tyre Nichols: the bigotry of the ‘anti-racists’. https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/02/01/tyre-nichols-and-the-bigotry-of-the-anti-racists/;
(6) ShemsiEnTehuti (07/03/07) Dr. Julia Hare tells it how it is… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq2kJ56hSqo&t=35s; Yelena Dzhanova (04/02/23) Memphis police chief CJ Davis has been praised for her handling of Tyre Nichols’ death. But critics say she’s protected bad cops and empowered elite units that became abusive. https://www.insider.com/critics-memphis-police-chief-cerelyn-cj-davis-abusive-cop-units-2023-2; Brian Sharp (12/03/21) Report blames Rochester, New York, mayor and other officials for keeping Daniel Prude’s death a secret. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/12/daniel-prude-rochester-mayor-others-kept-death-secret-report-says/4670770001/; Margaret Kimberley (18/01/23) Keith Davis, Jr. and Black Political Corruption. https://www.blackagendareport.com/keith-davis-jr-and-black-political-corruption; Michiel Willems (06/06/22) Questions and outrage grow after man who was tasered by police jumps off Chelsea Bridge and dies https://www.cityam.com/questions-and-outrage-grow-after-confused-man-who-was-tasered-by-police-jumps-off-chelsea-bridge-and-dies/
(7) Federica Cocco and Oliver Hawkins (04/02/23) US police receive less training than plumbers. https://www.ft.com/content/0ec78d2e-9a3b-403b-9d5a-fc68c2804e1f
(8) Rt. Hon. Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC (2017) Report of the Independent Review of Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody. p. 230. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/655401/Report_of_Angiolini_Review_ISBN_Accessible.pdf
(9) Jack Newman (30/01/23) Officers gave terrified Tyre Nichols 71 swift and contradictory commands in just 13 minutes as they beat him to death during unprompted traffic stop including holding his hands while barking at him to show his hands. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11692205/Officers-gave-terrified-Tyre-Nichols-71-swift-contradictory-commands-just-13-minutes.html
(10) CEMOTAP1 (14/11/09) The Great Harlem Debate 7 Was the Obama Election Good for Black People 5 of 13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj010Gpg86c&t=9s
(11) Devyn Springer (02/06/20) Killer Mike, T.I. and Atlanta’s Black misleadership class. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/killer-mike-atlanta-speech-ti-video-george-floyd-a9543551.html; Omowale Malcolm X (10/11/63) Message to Grassroots. http://brothermalcolm.net/mxwords/whathesaid8.html
we ask the question:
Tyre Nichols: How can we defend ourselves?
1) Is broadcasting the footage “exploiting Black trauma”?
2) How significant is the race of Tyre Nichols’ killers?
3) Who do we need to defend ourselves from?
4) What would it take to establish community self-defence?
Our Special Guest:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of almost 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.