I have an "uncomfortable" question: if the five Memphis cops had been white, would they have been

[Atticus]

fired and charged so quickly?

I know the Memphis police chief is black and the just elected DA is white and I am not at all criticizing their swift action.

But, my question remains.

[Ocelot II]

1. I also wondered the same thing.

It's rather unusual for cops to be charged so quickly, then I saw that they were all black, so... I hope that's not the case.

[nevergiveup]

2. It is the elephant in the room.

I have seen a lot of reporting on this and no one has questioned it.

[secondwind]

3. From the responses that are out there, my guess is that

they would have received the same treatment.

This was a heinous crime, no matter what color the folks were. It has been condemned by all.

[Elessar Zappa]

4. Probably not

but it’s a good thing that they were. That’s the type of swiftness we need in all these types of cases, regardless of race.

[Autumn]

5. Nope. I don't believe that they would.

[AkFemDem]

6. Given the way this video has been described

By the DA, the police chief, and the victim’s family’s attorney- I think yes. We have been very prepped to see something that is going to cause an explosion of anger and outrage. I don’t think it’s going to be one of those cam videos where some people can argue both sides- this is going to be more like George Floyd where almost everyone agrees what’s happening is heinous.

[wryter2000]

12. Do we know how it was recorded?

With George Floyd, there were witnesses. Without them there could only be body cam videos, no?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. They're not body cam videos; it's surveillance cameras on the street.

[iemanja]

16. In the Memphis case, they have both surveillance and bodycam videos

According to the Washington Post.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. Ah, OK.

[wryter2000]

21. Thanks

Good. People can see it.

[yorkster]

7. Ben Crump asked that question a few minutes ago

at a press conference from Memphis now on ,CNN.

Didn't record - was at about 12:30.

[Sympthsical]

8. I think the video is very, very bad

I have never seen such an attempt by officials to get so ahead of something before it reaches the public.

Clearly they expect some kind of severe public eruption once it's released.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. If they had been white, some people would say more Black cops should be hired, and here we are.

[Tickle]

10. This happened on 1/7/2023, it took 3 weeks

and they were charged today. I'm not sure that was so fast

Video of the fatal police encounter, a mix of body-camera and pole-cam video, is expected to be released today after 6PM

[brooklynite]

11. Answer your own question...

Why would the Black Police Chief and the Democratic Mayor give special consideration to White police officers?

“We have never seen swift justice like this,” said Ben Crump, a lawyer representing Tyre Nichols's family, noting that the five Memphis police officers were fired and then charged with murder less than 20 days after Nichols's death. “We want to proclaim that this is the blueprint going forward for any time any officers, whether they be Black or white, will be held accountable. No longer can you tell us we got to wait six months to a year.”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/27/us/tyre-nichols-memphis

[BlackSkimmer]

22. This. nt

[CivicGrief]

23. Because white supremacy is alive and well in present-day USA.

Assuming that a black police chief and a Democratic mayor would treat white cops the same is naive. Have you been paying attention?

[W_HAMILTON]

24. Your post is answering his, but not in the way you had intended.

"We have never seen swift justice like this" indicates that this is an exception and not the rule.

[brooklynite]

27. The OP was asking about a different handling about THIS case.

Waiting for the reason that not-Republican not White-Supremacists would act differently for White officers.

[uponit7771]

29. +1,

[emulatorloo]

13. IMHO Yes. The video evidence will be so extreme and horrific.

[ChazII]

15. While I don't want to watch the video

I think it will help me answer this question.

[Torchlight]

18. I tend to think so.

I don't know the numbers, or even what the relevant numbers would be, but my (admittedly biased) perception is that the walls of secrecy and silence surrounding minorities when posted to public service are less effective than those surrounding their non-minority peer-groups.

Both action as well as reaction from leadership positions seem much more efficient and on-the-spot dependent on vagaries of the target, color I believe, being one of them.

[RussBLib]

19. was wondering the same thing

Another example of systemic racism? Maybe.

Tell you what, after all the buildup to the release of the police tape and how horrible, inhumane and heinous it is, it better be REALLY horrible to justify such swift action by the higher authorities.

Trying to remember some of the more heinous beatings administered by white cops on black citizens. Then again, body cams were not even a thing 20 or so years ago. Surely some of the worst behavior will never see the light of day.

[ripcord]

20. You know the video is going to be bad from the time they are releasing it on friday evening

I'm withholding any judgement until I see the video.

[peggysue2]

25. I would say 'yes' for the most part

Think it still depends on the people in charge but the public's awareness of police abuse has grown, particularly police abuse against AA men and brown people. The use of video cams has opened the eyes of a lot of white Americans, those who may not have believed verbal testimony but now have visual evidence in their faces.

It's impossible to refute what's going on. Unless. of course, you're a Fox News adherent.

Video cams are not perfect nor the lone solution to turning this around. But these continuous images of blatant abuse, even murder, is forcing eyes wide open.

What all these images demonstrate is that there's something rotten at the core of police culture. Be it bad selection, bad training, whatever. The idea that you and your colleagues could lose control and beat a man to death over nothing, is a huge red flag that something has curled up and died in relation to serving and protecting the public.

There are too many of these incidents, too many lives lost to ascribe this to merely 'a few bad apples in the barrel.'

[kristndem]

26. As a long time Memphian

I think the recent election of DA Steve Mulroy makes all the difference. With Mulroy in the DA's office I believe they would have been charged no matter the race of the police. With the out going DA Amy Weirich, there would have been no such action. Right now I'm very glad of my vote.

[Samrob]

28. Think not. The FOP would have intervened. Not in this case. FOP is itself pretty racist.

How do I know...I live with two members.

[Jedi Guy]

30. From the response from city officials... I'm going to say white cops would've gotten the same.

This doesn't come across like a use of force case where reasonable people can disagree on whether the use/level of force was appropriate. There's been no attempt at any level to preemptively defend the officers' actions. If legit everyone who's seen the video has immediately said, "Yeah, this is way over the line" then odds are that would've been the reaction regardless of the officers' ethnicities.

This doesn't sound at all like an "awful but lawful" use of force.

[wnylib]

31. In an NPR interview with a Black clergyman in Memphis,

the clergyman said that this incident demonstrates that brutality is a policing problem beyond race. He called for a nationwide reevaluation of police tactics and training and for an overhaul of the Memphis police department.

[Iggo]

32. No.

[MichMan]

33. If it had been five different cops, the entire incident may have never happened.

[lame54]

34. Absolutely No...

This is a chance for them to say
See, we prosecute bad cops
And still get to send 5 black guys to prison

[onenote]

35. Do you think these cops shouldn't go to prison?

[lame54]

36. Most probably so (haven't seen the vid yet)...

But the question is about the speed and the full disclosure given in this case compared to past cases

They are circling the wagons

[Celerity]

37. hell no, not a chance, the thin blue line is white powered as well

and for the record, I hold these murderous motherfuckers in even MORE contempt than if was KKK white coppers, simply on the basis that they SHOULD KNOW BETTER than to beat a fellow black man to death!!!

[Wounded Bear]

38. Hard not to wonder about it. It is kind of a first...

We've had black officers involved with assaults like this, but never all of the officers being black.