Memphis cops' violence and the problem of black culture

American Thinker ^ | 01/28/2023 | Thomas Lifson

[SeekAndFind]

Two of the smartest and most insightful commentators today, both of whom happen to be black, have spoken words of great wisdom about the outrageous behavior of the Memphis cops who beat to death Tyre Nichols. Both men cite culture, though one, former Detroit police chief James Craig, points to the culture of the Memphis P.D. and the local culture of the "Scorpion" unit — one that deals with the worst street crime. The other, Jason Whitlock, points to the broader black culture.

Speaking to Tucker Carlson, Chief Craig (who kept the peace in Detroit while Minneapolis and other cities were burning after the death in custody of George Floyd) spoke of Antifa and other subjects, while criticizing the behavior of the cops — not just the ones who beat on Tyre Nichols, but the ones who stood by and did nothing to stop them and nothing to aid Nichols after his injuries. Wait for the last minute of the video below to see his remarks on the culture of the Memphis Police Department and of the Scorpion unit.

Organizational culture is a powerful force shaping and regulating behavior. It fills in the details of the rules and regulations that formally exist and creates a sense of what members of the organization "ought" to do. What their internal mental guide tells them is appropriate. It is usually shaped by the behavior of others that they observe, and then see rewarded or punished. It emerges over time and becomes unconscious.

Also speaking to Tucker on the same broadcast, Jason Whitlock, whom I deeply admire for his genuine wisdom, had the courage to raise the issues relating to black culture.

[SeekAndFind]

Via Mediaite:

There is a racial element. And this is a story about young Black men and their inability to treat each other in a humane way. Everybody involved in this on the street level was either 24 to 32 years old. Everybody. It was a group of young Black men, five-on-one. Looked like gang violence to me.

It looked like what young Black men do when they're supervised by a single Black woman. And that's what they got going on in the Memphis Police Department. They've elected some, or put some Black woman in charge of the police force, and we are getting the same kind of chaos and disunity and violence that we see in a lot of these cities run by single mothers.

If we want to discuss the breakdown of family that leads to disrespect for authority that causes you to resist the police and run from the police and not comply with the police, because you resist authority at all times, because there was no male authority in your home, let's have that discussion.

[SeekAndFind]

What has NOT been explained by media reports, is why did it take FIVE, yes FIVE, Police officers to stop Tyre Nichols’ car?

What did he do to merit such overkill?

[DownInFlames]

This is an example of lowering standards for employing the ranks of police. The more standards are lowered, the more malcontents are hired and you get this behavior. It’s organized thuggery.

[daniel1212]

The issue is that of culture, not color, of sin not skin.

A-PC Berkeley study published in 2007 of the attitude and treatment of recent African immigrants by American blacks serves to illustrate this (FR thread). Excerpt:

"Growing up in Africa . . ., the culture of White racism and prejudice was not part of the African upbringing . . . . [w]e were aware of the history of slavery but, in all cases, we were wil ling to forget and forgive. It never occurred to us that we would be the targets of hate simply because of the color of our skin. Interestingly, ou r Black and brown skins did not open the doors wide for us in the African American community either. We were, and remain to many African Americans, outsiders or beneficiaries of their struggle against a racist society. If we are too successful and live in a nice White neighborhood, then we are accused of betraying our race, being "Black Bourgeois" and wanting to be White. To White neighbors, we are safe because we are Blacks from Africa . . ., not from the South or Brooklyn and, to their stereotypical way of thinking, we do not do drugs or alcohol or have big late night parties."

The higher rates of violence in American black culture is related to the decline of the traditional black family which liberal policies fostered.

[1] Data from U.S. Census reports reveal that between 1880-1960, married households consisting of two-parent homes were the most widespread form of African-American family structures. Although the most popular, married households decreased over this time period. Single-parent homes, on the other hand, remained relatively stable until 1960; when they rose dramatically. A study of 1880 family structures in Philadelphia, showed that three-quarters of Black families were nuclear families, composed of two parents and children. In New York City in 1925, 85% of kin-related Black households had two parents. In 1991, 68% of Black children were born outside of marriage. In 2011, 72% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers. In 2015, 77% of Black babies were born to unmarried mothers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_family_structure

[2] From 1980 thru 2008 93% of black victims were killed by blacks. (https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf)

[3] By almost every measure African Americans socioeconomic conditions were better in 1970 than in 1940....Despite these economic and social advances black crime began to escalate markedly in the late 1960s and continued to play a major role in the multi-decade crime boom that followed. (https://www.hoplofobia.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2018-African-American-Crime-Rates.pdf)

[4] homicide-victimization rates for black men were 3.9 times the national average and that 52 percent of all known homicide victims were black (2017 data)In 2018, where the homicide victim was black, the suspected killer also was 88 percent of the time. From 1976 to 2005, 94 percent of black victims were killed by other African Americans...From 2000 to 2015, the mean African-American homicide-victimization rate, adjusted for age, was 20.1 per 100,000. That’s more than three times the Hispanic rate of 6.4 (despite disadvantages comparable to those of blacks) and over seven times the average white rate, 2.7. Moreover, as already noted, from 1976 to 2005, 94 percent of the killers of black murder victims were other African Americans. (https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2019/12/22/the-need-to-discuss-black-on-black-crime/)

In 2012 The U.S Census Bureau released a report that studied the history of marriage in the United States. They discovered some startling statistics when calculating marriage by race. They found that African Americans age 35 and older were more likely to be married than White Americans from 1890 until sometime around the 1960s. Not only did they swap places during the 60s but in 1980 the number of NEVER married African Americans began a staggering climb from about 10% to more than 25% by 2010 while the percentage for White women remained under 10% and just over 10% for White men. The first two charts below are charts included in the report only the headings have been altered by BlackDemographics.com to outline these findings.

-BlackDemographics.com © 2022 https://blackdemographics.com/households/marriage-in-black-america/

[BenLurkin]

Too many morons forget that “black culture” is American culture.

Not surprised that American Thinker dug up this guy to push its sordid agenda.

[frank ballenger]

I said yesterday the deceased man looked like he wouldn’t last two minutes one on one but five officers were involved in the video to subdue him.

Maybe they thought he was like the kung fu fighters in the 1973-1974 movies who had one guy fight five at a time with midair flying jump kicks and deadly throat strikes.

[Taxman]

Ping

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Too many morons forget that “black culture” is American culture.

Can you explain how 13% of the population equates to AMERICAN culture?

[hanamizu]

This is an example of lowering standards for employing the ranks of police.

---

It might even be worse in the U.K. A YouTuber, “History Debunked” related how in its goal to make the Metropolitan Police Force (London) ‘look more like the community it serves’ is hiring blacks as cops who have criminal records and are so illiterate in English that they cannot fill the arrest paperwork.

A supervisor who pointed this all out, still said that despite all of the negatives, it is a noble effort of which the Met should be proud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAHsAhiBnCs

[ealgeone]

Listen to rap music. They lyrics are negative, hateful, etc.

The rhythm is tribal at best.

[House Atreides]

Low IQ music.

[Ransomed]

I recall a study from years ago that claimed that use of force incidents increased with the % of women on the force. The departments with the lowest use of force incidents were those with higher % of black males on the job. Don’t know if that’s true but that’s what my hazy memory brings up. It was supposedly all about compliance, people didn’t comply with women officers but did for black male officers at a much higher rate.

Freegards

[the OlLine Rebel]

Before rap took over, blacks actually had talent and beautiful music and could sing rather than rant. That’s what it should be called, rant noise, not rap music.

[gundog]

I think two cars, two cops did the initial pull-over. When Nichols escaped, they called the dogs in on him.

[offduty]

While not condoning the actions of the “officers” from Memphis as there is no justification for what they did, as I was looking at the video, I was struck by the way the police vehicles were situated.

There was the classic “box” around the victim’s car. There was a unit on the driver’s side, behind, and one in front blocking the car from going forward. This indicates to me there was some form of pursuit prior to the “officers” pulling the victim out of the car. If so, that could explain the reason Nichols was pulled out of the car as opposed to being asked for the usual driver’s license and registration.

If the victim managed to get his arms under his body, it would be very difficult to get his arms behind him to handcuff him. Which would explain the “give me your hands” being yelled at Nichols

Having said that, what transpires after that has absolutely no justification. The use of chemical agents, ASP’s Taser’s, and physical abuse is beyond the pale.The fact that all these “officers” were wearing body cams and aware their actions were being recorded says there is a breakdown of culture/supervision in this unit and possibly the entire department as this was probably not the first time a person has been abused.

The other thing I find unusual is most agencies have policy that doesn’t allow unmarked vehicles to make traffic stops. A marked unit is usually required so there is no question the vehicle affecting the stop is a police vehicle. I don’t remember seeing any car (unmarked) on the wide shot of the scene with any emergency lights. So apparently, this unit either doesn’t follow policy or Memphis PD allows traffic stops with unmarked vehicles.

Lastly, why would a specialized unit such as this make a traffic stop in the first place? Why wouldn’t you call for a marked unit to make the stop? By stopping Nichols’ vehicle with their unmarked vehicles, they just told the hood they were active in the area and not only what they drive, but how many units are working the district. For a unit that is supposed to be working on high-profile proactive crime prevention, this just doesn’t make sense.

The end result is the further decay of trust between citizens and law enforcement. There is already a “them vs us” culture in the profession. With the proliferation of cell phones and social media, interactions between law enforcement and citizens have been taken out of context and blown up on social media before all the facts are known.

This will not help the situation. All it has done is driven a wedge between the citizenry and the guys who have to put on the uniform everyday and do it by the book.

I hope these suspects, (I won’t give them the courtesy of calling them LEO’s) receive a fair trial and if found guilty, given the appropriate sentence.

[Bob434]

[[five officers were involved in the video to subdue him.]]

They weren’t even trying to subdue him really- they are well trained on how to take a perp to the ground and subdue them - but these cops kept the perp standing up while one cop circled him punching him in the face- then another cop ran over kicking him in the face after he fell to the ground from punches

those 5 maggots went way above trying to simply subdue the perp- They were out to send a message to the victim and others what ‘tough guys’ they were (only they weren’t tough at all- the one cop got sprayed by mace, and ran off, another who kicked the perp in face, went limping off and almost fell while trying to kick him-

[frank ballenger]

You’re accurate.

I wonder what the police were thinking.

With all the videos on unseen people’s phones in the distance or the stores and lamp posts with cameras did they think there would be no consequences for beating someone?

[Bob434]

I can not believe that police academies and stations aren’t teaching their recruits and personnel etc that the world is watching- always watching- and to refrain from doing idiotic crap like the 5 cops did to Tyre Nichols- especially after the citizens have turned against cops so- The captains should have reeled in the special unit, knowing that they used abusive tactics on perps- (You just know that everyone knew about their blatant brutality) , and ordered them to tame it down massively- The department in this particular case is almost as responsible for the tragedy as the 5 cops were-

[Celtic Conservative]

We had several
African immigrant officers in the prison that I used to work at. To a one, they though African Americans were immature brats.

CC

[Sequoyah101]

As stupid as they are, do you expect to be anything but stupid thugs?