Editorial: Tyre Nichols death enrages

From The Lookout Staff

On Friday, Jan. 27, the Memphis Police finally released the bodycam footage of the police officers involved in the brutal arrest and consequent murder of Tyre Nichols.

Originally, Memphis Police claimed that Nichols fled on foot and had to be restrained. However, the video instead depicts Nichols doing his best to follow the dozens of commands given to him, only for the involved police officers to beat him to near death.

Three days after the initial exchange, on Jan. 10, Nichols was pronounced dead after succumbing to his injuries. 

According to his friends and family, the altercation took place because Nichols had pulled over to capture the sunset. As an aspiring photographer, Nichols had wanted to capture the beautiful sunset that evening, but was instead pulled over for an alleged traffic violation. This somehow turned into a violent display of police brutality.

This is far from the first time a Black man was beaten to death by the hands of police officers. The Lookout staff is disgusted by the actions taken by the policemen involved.

How could these idiotic officers think they could get away with this senseless beating in today’s world of cameras, technology and media scrutiny? Their actions are inconceivable and unbelievable!

Although we are happy to hear that the policemen involved will be tried for the murder of Nichols, it is still far too little when a new police brutality case comes to light seemingly every month. 

At what point will police value the lives of Black men and women? At what point will there be a change?

The Lookout staff believes that systemic racism and culture are preventable, and that there should never be any more lives lost due to them. 

Although not all police are racists, it is undeniable that there are prejudices against Black people, minorities and lower-income individuals across police stations in America.

The Lookout believes these prejudices need to be scrutinized and corrected if there is ever going to be a world with no police brutality.