All mothers were summoned

Bless the family and memory of Tyre Nichols

When Tyre Nichols was first pulled from his car on Jan. 7 in Memphis, Tenn., he did exactly what mothers (especially Black mothers) tell their sons to do in such situations: Remain calm.

The 29-year old, who was coming home from snapping photos at a local park, even tried to inject some humor into the situation as Memphis police officers were yelling, threatening, and beating him ("You all are doing...a lot.").

And he was beaten to death anyway in what we should stop calling a “routine traffic stop,” because for so many, there’s nothing routine about a traffic stop that can quickly turn fatal.

If you’ve watched the video — and you may choose not to — you will see Mr. Nichols, who attempted to run after the police officers began to double down on him. You’ll watch a chase, and then an apprehension and a lot of commotion and a man crying out. Later, you’ll see cops chatting as they stand around — some breathing heavily after chasing Mr. Nichols — creating a narrative the videos don’t show. You’ll hear them say the victim was on drugs (he wasn’t) or that he reached for a police gun (no evidence of that, either). You’ll hear one office talk about his knee (a constant conversation among public servants who put their bodies on the line is the injuries they incur while doing so). You’ll also see glimpses of Mr. Nichols struggle to move, and you’ll hear him cry for his mother, RowVaughn Wells.

He died three days later in a hospital. A preliminary autopsy showed significant injuries from his beating. Ms. Wells has said she wants justice, and that she is praying for the officers’ families, who “didn’t deserve any of this either.” And she said this, which broke my heart:

“My son loved me to death, and I love him to death.”

Mr. Nichols, a photographer who works second shift at FedEx alongside his stepfather, joins the Washington Post’s data base of people killed by police. There have been 1,110 deaths in the past year. Most of the victims tend to be young and Black.

You can, as Memphis did, fire the police officers involved in the murder, charge them, and disband their unit, but we should resist believing that “Memphis did the right thing,” as this New York Times story implies. For Tyre Nichols, his family, the people on the Post’s list and their family, it’s a lot, but it’s a lot late.