大象传媒

Once again, Americans are left reeling from the horror of video footage showing police brutalizing an unarmed Black man who later died.

Some details in the latest case of extreme police violence were gut-wrenchingly familiar: a police traffic stop of a Black male motorist turned violent. But, for many of us, other details were unfamiliar: the five police officers accused of using everything from pepper spray to a Taser, a police baton, and intermittent kicks and punches against the motorist were also Black.

After pulling over 29-year-old Tyre Nichols for what they said was reckless driving, Black officers in the Memphis Police Department鈥檚 beat Nichols, ultimately to death.

大象传媒 partner publication The Conversation asked Rashad Shabazz, at Arizona State University, to explore the societal conditions in which Black police officers could brutalize another Black man.

The Conversation: What could influence Black police officers to savagely beat a Black motorist?

Rashad Shabazz: Policing in the U.S. has, from its inception, treated Black people as domestic enemies. From , which some historians consider to be among the nation鈥檚 , to the , and now the death of Nichols, law enforcement officers often have viewed Black people as what sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, in , called a 鈥減roblem.鈥�

American society and therefore should be subject to state power in the form of policing or, in some cases, vigilantism鈥攁s in the . This is a link deeply woven into American consciousness. And . In this way, the long-held and widely held negative beliefs about them are a powerful cocktail that can compel even Black officers to stop, detain, and brutally beat a man who looks just like them.

The Conversation: Could their actions have been motivated by anti-Black bias?

Shabazz: It鈥檚 hard to investigate the minds of the officers who beat Nichols so savagely and say for sure what motivated them. But that suggests is a factor in American policing. And Black officers, agents of an , are affected by this. And this might explain why bias than the Black population as a whole.

To comprehend this, we have to take a step back and think about race. Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist, described race as a sign. When we look at skin color or something to us. Black people, in this society鈥攁nd 鈥�. And as a result, institutions like the criminal justice system respond to their perceived threat with .

Our surprise that five Black police officers could brutalize another Black man indicates we have an impoverished understanding of race and racism in this country.

The Conversation: What does Tyre Nichols鈥� death mean for calls to diversify policing?

Shabazz: For years, elected officials, activists, and citizens have been making calls to reform policing. Many have said bringing more people from ethnically diverse backgrounds onto police forces would go a long way toward correcting institutional racism in the criminal justice system.

The 鈥�,鈥� commissioned through an executive order by President Barack Obama, called for law enforcement agencies to 鈥渟trive to create a workforce that encompasses a broad range of diversity, including race, gender, language, life experience, and cultural background to improve understanding and effectiveness.鈥�

One recent study concluded that and use force less often than their white counterparts. But, at the same time, Black and Brown police officers live in the same culture that sees Black people as criminals and threats. So simply having more officers of color .

The Conversation: How does seeing video of another Black man brutalized by police, this time Black officers, affect Black people?

Shabazz: Over the past decade, videos of Black people killed at the hands of police officers have filled social media and news sites. I, for one, cannot watch them because for my safety and that of my family and friends. I watched about 30 seconds of the Black police officers pummeling Nichols and couldn鈥檛 take any more. I know I鈥檓 not alone. Studies tell us that police killings of unarmed Black people for Black people. This kind of horror should be traumatizing to the nation. But if Black is the sign of danger and criminality, who will have empathy for the Tyre Nicholses of the world?

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