Memphis Blues, and the slave-catcher mentality.

If you have been paying attention over the past few days, you know by now that the most popular news story coming out of Memphis, Tennessee, is not the success of their basketball team, but the horrific beating and killing of one of the city's citizens at the hands of those who are sworn to serve and protect. 

I must confess, I still have not had the stomach or the emotional discipline to watch the video.  I have seen enough graphic videos and horrific scenes in my life as a criminal lawyer in Philadelphia over the past twenty years to be able to withstand seeing one more such acts of horror. But honestly, I am just exhausted at this point.   

What makes this story particularly unique and nuanced,  is the fact that the five perpetrators, like Tyre Nichols, were black men. This, to me, is not surprising. I have been telling you about house Negroes and the danger they present to our community my entire blogging career, but unfortunately folks have not been paying attention. It's that slave-catching house Negro mentality that made it so easy for these Memphis police officers to savagely beat Tyre Nichols to death. We devalue the lives of our own, which makes it easier for others in the majority population to devalue us. One thing we are learning about this specialized unit formed by the Memphis police, is that it was staffed with mostly black officers because they did not want the scrutiny when it comes to civil rights violations that white officers would bring. The fact that these officers would sign up for this should make us all realize that the slave-catcher mentality is still alive and well. 

And let's look at the majority population for a minute.  Please note how quiet all the usual conservative suspects (who are always quick to support the police and demonize victims) are being when it comes to this particular case. Not surprising given the fact that the police officers doing the beatings were black. These officers were quickly fired and charged with second degree murder, and that's a good thing. But think what usually happens when a white officer, or officers, are guilty of doing similar things. They are put on administrative leave WITH pay. It takes weeks (and in some cases months) to release the video tape, and the right-wing media machine falls in lockstep to defend them and tell us what a dangerous job policing is. That is not the case here, and these clueless house Negroes who thought they were protected by the blue wall, will now realize that the wall does not extend to them. 

There is something the mother of Tyre Nichols said that really moved me. She talked about his love for Vans, and not Air Jordan sneakers to highlight his individuality. She also said that he liked art, and he loved skateboarding, and that he cried out her name while he was being savagely beaten to death.  

Stay peaceful.  

*Image from yahoo news.