Why black police officers killed Tyre Nichols

By Samuel Sey, Op-ed contributor Tuesday, January 31, 2023

A memorial is displayed for Tyre Nichols at the Embrace statue in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 28, 2023. The city of Memphis released a graphic video, depicting the fatal police assault of Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, on Jan. 27. Five Memphis officers, also all Black, were charged with second-degree murder in the beating of Nichols, who died in a hospital on Jan. 10, three days after being stopped on suspicion of reckless driving. | Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

If you make a black person’s “race” the most important thing about their life, their murder will mean nothing to you unless you think it’s because of racism.

For that reason, some people are actually claiming five black police officers killed Tyre Nichols because of white supremacy.

Listen closely and you’ll realize they’re actually suggesting that if he isn’t a victim of white supremacy — then his death isn’t as important.

This is because critical race theory suggests we’re made in the image of white supremacy, not the image of God.

According to critical race theory, white supremacy is an omnipotent and omnipresent system that shapes the meaningfulness of our lives and the value of our deaths.

And since they believe black people are fundamentally oppressed by the omnipotent system of white supremacy, they refuse to acknowledge that five black police officers can murder a black man for any reason other than racism.

But that’s actually insulting to Tyre Nichols and his loved ones. If the supposed system of white supremacy is ultimately responsible for Tyre Nichols’ death, then the police officers who killed him are just hypnotized victims of white supremacy — and they should be found not guilty.

That’s obviously absurd. White supremacy didn’t kill Tyre Nichols, the police officers did. White supremacy won’t give an account to God for his murder, the police officers will.

Racism isn’t what makes a black person’s death horrific. We don’t need to appeal to white supremacy to make a black person’s murder more devastating. Otherwise, we’ll continue to ignore the prevalence of gang-related crimes and abortion in black communities.

Tyre Nichol’s murder isn’t especially horrific because of supposed racism. His death isn’t especially horrific because the people who killed him look like him. What makes his murder especially depressing is that people who were supposed to protect and serve him — regardless of their skin color — violated their oath, abused their power, and killed him.

Meaning, the most important thing about Tyre Nichols’ death isn’t the color of his skin. The most important thing about Tyre Nichols is that he’s made in the image of God.

Therefore the value of a black person’s death isn’t determined by the motives of their murderers: it’s determined by their maker.

So Tyre Nichols’ death is meaningful, even if it isn’t a result of white supremacy.

Originally published at Slow to Write.

Samuel Sey is a Ghanaian-Canadian who lives in Brampton, a city just outside of Toronto. He is committed to addressing racial, cultural, and political issues with biblical theology, and always attempts to be quick to listen and slow to speak.