By now, we have all heard of the tragic murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis on January 10.
We also know that the five officers responsible have already been fired and charged with second degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
Cutting right to the chase (no pun intended), many are wondering how these officers were fired and charged so quickly, whereas had they been white, we’re pretty sure it would not have happened this quickly.
Of course, nobody will ever know for sure how this would have turned out if these officers were white. But here is my theory on why it went this way:
…Because they are taking one for the team.
I am not a big conspiracy theorist and I say again that this is just a theory and I am but one person. But as a Black man myself, I have seen many instances where we say a certain system has major racist tendencies, especially with the presence of white individuals, but as soon as that same system produces Black people who are the perpetrators, certain folks immediately say that that *eliminates* the presumption of the existence of racism.
In other words, for this instance, certain folks would immediately claim that there is *no* systemic racism within the police force, because how could it be when these officers are Black also?
Sound familiar? It should to just about all of us as Blacks. We have all heard some form of it before.
This is when it gets a bit out there to some people, and I’m fine with that. But part of my theory is also that I feel this is intentional at times.
Do I mean that the *system* told these Black cops to murder Tyre Nichols just so it can take some of the heat off regarding systemic racism from law enforcement?
Maybe.
Whenever a white man commits a mass shooting and it is discovered that he clearly went after one demographic or race of people, all it takes is for one victim to not be within that group for people to immediately say that that “couldn’t have been the reason.”
Let’s say a white man kills 10 people; 8 Black and 2 white. The 2 white victims would be all certain folks would need to say it was not a hate crime, even though those of us with sense know better.
But in some cases, I think that certain people don’t want to be labeled as racist (even though they are), so they will intentionally go after one or two white people just so it doesn’t look like such. Then of course, that becomes the argument.
Even if this was not intentionally an instance of them “taking one for the team,” this certainly does help their cause, doesn’t it?
I mean, we’ve spent all this time talking about all the issues with law enforcement regarding police brutality, especially against Blacks from white cops. But ah, here is a case where the perpetrators are Black.
So that means law enforcement can’t be a problem, since Black cops clearly “do it too.”
Right?
Not like Black police officers couldn’t just carry out what the system has become comfortable with doing to Black people. They’re part of a presumed racist system. Of course every member of the police forces around the country could not consist of only white police officers. That would be too obvious, right?
Even back in the slavery era, there were the Black slaves who got in good with their masters by doing the *extra* that the other slaves wouldn’t do or were not trusted to do. And let’s face it…there are likely MANY Blacks running around today with that very mindset; to do *extra* to impress white people. Even if it means going as far as murdering their own.
Of course I can never say that happened here for sure. Only these five officers (and maybe others) know for certain. What I can say for sure is that even though it is clear that millions of racist white people still exist in this county in all kinds of occupations, to include law enforcement, many don’t like to be viewed as racist. So they will do all they can to shift the attention.
Even if it means applauding these Black cops for not only murdering Tyre Nichols, but also for being Black to take the pressure off them and so they can repeat how innocent law enforcement is as a whole and how they *can’t be racist* since, you know…this shows that “Black cops murder Black people too.”
And the thing about “taking one for the team” is that the entire purpose is to be discarded once you are no longer needed. Since these officers possibly carried out what was desired by select groups of law enforcement, they served their purpose and their *jobs* here are done.
But oh, that’s right…law enforcement’s mindset could be this. “Let’s show America that we are *all about accountability for law enforcement* by taking action quickly.”
That’s what we as Blacks want, right? So how can we argue when they have fired and charged these officers, even this quickly?
Because not only are we pretty certain this white officers would have been placed on “administrative leave,” but the public probably expects us to now shut about cops being racist because it one of our own who killed us.
Oh, sorry…I meant FIVE of our own. Multiple police officers not trusting their accredited law enforcement training to the extent that they needed to murder someone. And we’ve seen quite a few instances of multiple white cops all together murdering one Black person here and a Black person there too, right?
So basically, these five Black cops just did the same thing.
Taking one for the team.
People's Court 