Today, I learned that another Black man was murdered in the street by police.
I am gobsmacked. I am disgusted. I am enraged. Words cannot properly express the kaleidoscope of emotions I am feeling right now.
When will the violence stop? How many more people have to die before they learn that excessive use of force is not necessary? Why can’t they see that they are not at war with foreign invaders?
These are their own people!
Law enforcement does not equal execution!
I haven’t watched the video. I’ve read enough to know what happened, and still I am in a state of confusion and shock.
I’ve stopped watching the news to protect my mental sanity, and ever since Philando Castile, I have avoided watching videos of police killings, because that one tore me to shreds. I had nightmares—his little girl’s voice trying to calm her wailing mother echoing in my head. I don’t want this to become so commonplace that videos and bodycam footage are released every week like our favorite primetime crime dramas, desensitizing us to the brutality these poor victims suffered.
This isn’t right. I don’t care what wrong he was suspected of doing (and based on reports, those dirty cops lied about that). What happened to innocent until proven guilty? What happened to our constitutional protection from cruel and unusual punishment?
What happened to Tyre Nichols wasn’t just cruel and unusual. It was of the devil: pure evil. And the fact that the officers who committed this crime were Black just proves that the system of policing in America is corrupt at a fundamental level. They are thugs, criminals. They jumped that man like it was a gang initiation.
I hope they are punished to the fullest extent of the law and more, so they know how it feels, because that’s what they deserve.
I have no pity for them. None. Ask God for mercy, because you won’t get it from me. Pigs.
Nortina's Writing Inspiration Well 
Every time I hear of something like this my heart feels stomped on. It’s hard because some days I truly feel hopeless. How can we break down a system that’s working exactly as designed?
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I heard about it because it happened in my hometown. It turns out it was a personal, targeted crime. Tyre was dating one of the officers’ ex gf. He had been trying to get back with her and targeted Tyre out of anger. Which makes it even more disgusting.
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Totally get it. I wrote a similar post. I didnt hear about it either because I purposely dont watch the news. Never watched the Floyd video and did not plan on watching Tyre but CNN caught me. It’s sickening. I hope they rot in jail and that their families disown them so that they can ruminate over it every second of every day.
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Agree! Your use of “a gang initiation” brought to mind some university “club initiations” where degrading, horrible abuses, and challenges resulting in death were encouraged to “prove” worthiness to belong — we need to look at where we are planting the seeds of “it’s okay” to do not okay things under certain circumstances–it is NOT okay ever and that is where we need to start. What we have now in violence did not appear out of nowhere and we seriously need to see what part we all played in getting here. Small seeds grow big trees. That’s just my opinion.
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