February 1 marked a beginning and an end. It’s the first day of Black History Month, the national celebration honouring the hard-won achievements of African Americans over the painful arc of the more than 400 years since the first ship of enslaved Africans arrived in 1619.
February 1 was also the day of the funeral for Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old African-American father who died on January 10 after being brutally beaten by five Memphis police officers three days earlier. As Tyre was laid to rest, a firestorm was erupting over how Black history is taught, with at least one state’s rejection of a proposed AP African-American history curriculum.
Tyre Nichols was driving home on the evening of Saturday, January 7 when Memphis police pulled him over, they claimed, for reckless driving. Even the police chief later admitted there was no such basis for the traffic stop.
“Get the f—- out the f——ing car!” one officer screamed, to which Tyre responded, “I didn’t do anything.” Police pulled Tyre from the car and roughly pinned him to the ground. Tyre appeared frightened but remained calm. As one officer Tased him, he escaped, running towards home. The police caught up with Tyre on a quiet residential street just a couple hundred feet from home. More police resumed the vicious attack.
Police body cameras and a pole-mounted security camera documented the assault. Tyre’s final words as he was beaten into unconsciousness were to call for his mother. Less than 10 minutes after the initial traffic stop, Tyre, handcuffed and bloodied, was propped against a police car. When he fell over, he was again propped up, but otherwise ignored by the police and EMTs. Twenty minutes passed before an ambulance arrived. He died in the hospital three days later.
The five officers, all of whom are Black, were fired and charged with 2nd degree murder. A white officer, heard on the video saying, “I hope they stomp his ass,” was suspended, as was another officer. Two Memphis Fire Department EMTs were also fired, as was their on-site supervisor, a lieutenant, for failing to adequately help Tyre.
“He had a beautiful soul, and he touched everyone,” RowVaughn Wells, Tyre’s mother, said on the Democracy Now! news hour.
“The boy smiled all the time. He loved his mother’s cooking. He loved his son. That’s why he came to Memphis in the first place, to be with his mom, build a better life for him and his son. But Memphis took my son away from me.”
At the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at rabble.ca…