The Killing of Tyre Nichols: Better to Eulogize than Save Blacks Like Him?

The Killing of Tyre Nichols was all too predictable. It played out like countless other cases of cops killing Black men.

The Killing of Tyre Nichols

Republican politicians offer thoughts and prayers after those shootings. But then they block legislation that could prevent them. Black activists offer eulogies after cops kill Black men. But then they refuse to admonish Blacks on how to survive them.

Black activists orchestrated a de-facto state funeral on Wednesday. They got CNN and other TV networks to cover it. They even got VP Kamala Harris to headline dignitaries in the congregation.

True to form, Reverend Al Sharpton was the eulogizer in chief. Never mind that he hailed Benjamin Crump almost as much as he eulogized Nichols.

Blacks now make a show of referring to Crump as Black America’s attorney general. But there are certain things we say only in the company of other Black folks. This kind of self-segregating, idle flattery should be one of those things.

Not to mention the manifest hustle this ignores. After all, Crump is more of an ambulance chaser than a law enforcer.

That said, Crump acquitted himself well. This case stands out for the swift way the police and prosecutors are meting out justice. That moved Crump to challenge “White America.”

He told them to make this the blueprint for all cases when cops kill Black people. And all fair-minded Americans can agree with that.

But does this blueprint mean that every Black man cops kill will get a de-facto state funeral?

There’s no denying the blueprint Sharpton and Crump are following. They have followed it in every major case like this since the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Better to eulogize than save Blacks like him

Nichols follows Blacks like Trayvon, Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, and Stephon Clark. And I expressed sympathy for them all.

But I have nothing but contempt for how Sharpton and Crump rush to turn them into dubious martyrs. I mean, why not admonish Black men to do the right things to avoid ending up dead?

Frankly, Sharpton and Crump make traditional ambulance chasers look like professional slackers.

Many prominent Blacks spoke at this funeral. Yet none of them took this opportunity to admonish Black men. But they could’ve saved countless lives by issuing a simple plea. That, of course, is for them to obey police commands instead of resisting arrest.

Instead, each speaker reinforced and acculturated the fear Black men have of the police. They might’ve even convinced some that resisting arrest is a badge of honor or a rite of passage.

But there’s a 99% chance Nichols would still be alive if he did not run (no matter how understandable his fear is). But again, Sharpton and Crump seem more interested in making martyrs of Blacks like him.

Following their blueprint, this provides cover for them. You know, to collect their cut of the millions in civil lawsuits that always follow in these cases.

And that’s not me being my cynical self. Because no less a person than Eric Garner’s daughter famously bemoaned as much:

Al Sharpton is all about the Benjamins, a daughter of police chokehold victim Eric Garner claims in a bombshell videotape.

(New York Post, February 24, 2015)

Black on Black vs Blue on Black

As a Black man, I felt heartbroken when I learned that the police officers, in this case, were all Black. It reminded me of the mass shooter who killed 11 people of Asian descent was himself Asian. I’m referring, of course, to the shooting in Monterey Park. No doubt Asians felt the same way about that.

Perversely, this shows that whether White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian, we’re all the same. But, when it comes to police brutality, Blacks are most often the victims.

 That’s why the killing of Tyre Nichols came as a surprise to no Black in America. This kind of blue-on-Black crime is a menace. And we all know it doesn’t matter if the cop in blue is Black or White.

But I’d be remiss not to note that it pales compared to the menace of Black-on-Black crime.