I heard the news
And it’s no surprise
There’s a moment of sadness
Another brother died
By the hands of the culture
Or one of his own
James Brown/Jazzy B

It is no surprise that the world witnessed another brutal killing of another young black man Tyre Nichols at the hands of police. As is always the case there will be a lot of theories about why this happened along with what needs to happen now. 

We will hear the usual perfunctory statements. ‘Not all cops are bad.’ “never again” This never should have happened. This is not who we are, and the list goes on and on. But the numbers tell otherwise. The number of people dying at the hands of police has increased. While all cops may not be bad there are enough bad cops that have sullied the entire system. 

There will be theories about police not following protocol. The following of protocol in this case as in many others is an irrelevant topic of discussion. There will be some who will say because the officers are black, they must have internalized oppression. This too is nonsense as is that this was a traffic stop gone bad. Others will point out that the problem is the utilization of special units such as the Scorpion unit whose officers beat Tyre Nichols and now has been disbanded. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon how you look at it, none of these theories are relevant when it comes to yet another unnecessary vicious beating and death of a young black man.

Too often there’s a tendency to diminish an incomprehensible situation down to something that is understandable in our own experience.

The only reality that should be considered and acted upon is that this is yet another example of a morally corrupt culture.

The axiom that fits this scenario and many others is the one uttered by Lord Acton who said “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When you give someone power of life and death that is absolute power. There is a corruption within the culture of police departments that overrides everything else. Any other theory that is entertained is a waste of time and simply serves to maintain the status quo by saying we only fix this or that things will be better.

What must be remembered is that there are 17,000 police departments with approximately 660,000 law enforcement officers. When one breaks that down to its most basic component that is 660,000 people with a license to kill and the power of life and death.

The United States constantly espouses the notion that policing is a very dangerous profession and one where officers put their lives on the line every day. The reality is that as a profession, it is not within the top 10 most dangerous professions in the nation. Consequently this narrative automatically gives officers the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their violent misdeeds. 

There must be a transformation, but it cannot come from within. It is not within human institutions to change itself. When any human institution tries to change itself it will only do so to the extent that it serves its self interest which is survival. The only way for self transformation to take place is if there is sufficient pain to make adherence to the status quo an untenable action. Consequently change must be foisted upon America’s police departments. 

So the question remains as to the next step. From a national perspective one can understand that any kind of police reform will be virtually impossible with a Republican House of Representatives headed by the present Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy who exemplifies the statement of Mephistopheles who said “if I wasn’t a devil myself i’d give me up to the Devil this very minute.”

A good start will be creating a movement to pass the George Floyd bill which passed the House but was stymied in the United States Senate and opposed by organizations such as the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and then President Donald Trump. Nonetheless, one way to push the bill despite Republican intransigence is to aim the movement to pressure Black GOP Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Black GOP Congressmen such as Byron Donald of Florida to move their Republican colleagues to support the passage of the bill. While marches have had success such as Black Lives Matter being responsible for many jurisdictions enforcing use of body-cams, too often marches while giving publicity to the cause are devoid of a specific target which makes the movement amorphous. The movement must be aimed at the points of weakness within the intransigence which in this case are black republicans.

A second phase to transform police is a mandatory annual psychological test for all officers administered through the federal government or another independent auditor. There is no doubt that the culture of police work can make a person cynical and jaundiced. It is this reality that must be evaluated on a regular basis to establish that those with the power of life and death can act with humane rationality. Perhaps it may also be prudent to consider that officers take a sabbatical every few years.

A third phase is to increase the age to become an officer. While one can join the military at age 18, nonetheless, having that type of responsibility foisted upon young people and men in particular is a recipe for potential disaster. While there has been debate on this issue particularly in California it is prudent to consider age as a factor for having the maturity to have a license to kill. 

The political component is not to be dismissed lightly. If there are at least 660,000 officers, that does not include their families, friends, and other acquaintances which can make for a substantial voting block when it comes to issues of police transformation. 

This reality raises the issue of a broader organizing strategy to create support for police transformation. Studies clearly show that black males in particular are more likely to die at the hands of police than any other group in America. In fact police brutality is a leading cause of death among young black males. Nonetheless, other communities have suffered at the hands of a morally corrupt police system. This creates an opportunity to create political alliances across communities that could possibly lead to greater pressure on elected officials to support police transformation.

Sadly this will not be the last incident of police brutality Americans will witness. In fact what the recent videos sadly remind us of is the fact that what we have seen is most likely a small sample of what was going on before the use of body-cams. It is also part of a violent culture that has enveloped the nation with constant mass shootings and a political class namely the GOP who thrives on the support of the gun lobbyist. A culture where human life is devalued and black life devalued the most. 

Nonetheless, as in most things the American electorate is the final arbiter of how issues are addressed and ultimately resolved. If there is any optimism it resides in the fact that the George Floyd protests were interracial, inter-generational and international. Thus far the murder of Tyre Nichols has produced protests that are multi-dimensional as well.

As one looks at history during the civil rights movement, Dr. King and others recognized that America was under scrutiny around the world due to its treatment of its black citizens. It was that scrutiny that not only helped the civil rights movement albeit slowly but also moved the United States to support the decolonization of African nations in the 1960’s. 

The internationalization of this murder can serve as another motivating factor towards police transformation but it will have to be organized in a strategic manner to optimize this time in history.

It is said “the  arc of history is long but it bends towards justice.” However true that may be it bends when those who seek and value justice are willing to bend it in the direction of justice.

This is a sad time for America but within this chaos there is an opportunity for progress if only the nation is willing to grab it. Time will tell.