Sadly these police uniforms with testosterone were around in the 70s. I was married to one. He bragged about beating drunk Black men with his police mag light, a very heavy baton, leaving them unconscious. This disgusted me. Our marriage did not survive. This “hot dog” attitude is not new. What IS new is a female police chief who fired these cowboys and refused to protect them as many police departments do. Good for her.
My family is black, biracial, and white. We are feeling this death very personally. My 16-year-old granddaughter and her father wept and grieved after they watched the video. I felt physically sick. My confidence in and trust of law enforcement writ large is at a very low point. I am not sure what kind of situation would motivate me to call for their aid and bring them to my home. I fear for my family members every single day. Right now, America feels like a very dangerous place to live. How do we fix that? Can we fix that?
Mustering something out of tragedy has become the ongoing project in America 2023. In one evening, we watched Paul Pelosi being bludgeoned, Tyrie being executed and continuous mass shootings too numerous to mention or track. Our culture of violence has become as viral as Covid. The real danger as I see it is for this culture to become so normalized that we come to accept it as "that's just the way things are". As we empathize with another mother burying her child, let's make a commitment to each other to spread kindness like a virus to offset the evil which swirls around us.
I struggle with being hopeful that a positive step forward will actually come to pass. Every day we are bombarded with “stirring the pot” by those who are responsible for misinformation, deflection and distraction, the masterminds of the January 6, 2021, unbelievable, unAmerican attack on our democracy. I vividly remember watching the news on television in the early 1950’s as black people including women and children, in Southern states, were violently sprayed with fire hoses, by fireman, just for gathering to be recognized as American citizens. I could not understand who would allow this pain to be inflected on these people. It is 70 years later. Protect and Serve is an honorable concept and many LE try their best. With every mass shooting, especially when children are the specific victims, we get outraged once again. It happens again though. Mr Rather, Mr Kirschner and Dr Heather Cox Richardson , have helped educate me on many levels these past two years. I NEED their reminders about our past national history. I try to keep Steady. “Let us hope we can muster something hopeful out of this tragedy.” Please read what Tyre D Nichols says about his photography, linked by Dr Richardson in her posting of last evening. His “hope” ceased prematurely. Rest in Peace, young Tyre D Nichols.
SORROW! GRIEF! HORROR! Questions. Why were these officers willing to commit a violent murderous attack with full body cameras running, completely aware their actions would be seen by monitors and higher-ups. This has to be bigger than 5 rogue cops... attitude is not confined to rank.
THE DEADLY CULTURE OF “WARRIOR” POLICING that killed Tyre Nichols is emblematic of mascupathy in our culture today. That term was coined by a colleague of mine who has worked with Men’s violence and Men’s healing for many years, a northern Michigan man who wrote a powerful little book about it. What happened to this beautiful young man Tyre Nichols of 33 years, who called out in despair for his mother, as he was beaten to death just 100 yards away from home? The best we can say about it – as with the killing of George Floyd – is that Tyre Nichol’s unintended sacrifice represents a significant turning point for policing in America today. It is a turning point in how we will view, and how we will finally reform policing in this country -- largely in response to Black Lives Matter and cell phones. But also because of the sacrifices of George Floyd and Tyre Nichol’s and countless others, police body camera footage will now be released swiftly, and the once solid blue wall of silence covering up the most abusive practices is now melting.
Was Tyre Nichols death the result of racism? Yes it was --but a complex derivation of it, one that is likely a factor in much of black-on-black violence. But beyond racism, Tyre’s murder was most powerfully symptomatic of pathologies in male culture. The culture of mascupathy infects not only the men in “the Thin Blue Line” but also permeates sports (2 of the policeman were football stars) and video gaming, much of military culture, and the current MAGA power politics of the patriarchy. What a lot of women and men (and nonbinary folks) don’t know though –what they fail to see is that those 5 big men (all over 200 lbs) who beat the 140 lb Tyre to death were frightened, they were running scared. Not scared that Tyre would hurt them back physically, but that their macho face and posturing would crack from empathy, crack in the presence of their peers. That they would suffer from those inevitable failures in mascupathy that are happening all around us today. Those cracks in male posturing are the result of feminism and the “me too” movement for sure, but also the result of the conscious men’s movement, and now too of the courageous nonbinary explorations of young people today.
Most essentially, the fatal flaw of American Policing comes from the belief one must first and foremost “subdue and dominate” those seen to be violation of the law. This simple, but misguided belief and practice has led to countless tragic and unnecessary deaths, deaths that began with police chasing after broken taillights or stopping the sales of illegal cigarettes. This over-used approach of physically subduing and dominating I believe is the single biggest cause of wrongful deaths at the hands of police today. And it exists in the culture of policing for both men and women, but because of mascupathy, the worse offenders statistically are police-men. Police-women are not wedded to the culture of fear and dominance that permeates mascupathic behavior in men. They are less afraid to show feelings of empathy, compassion, understanding in the presence of their peers on the force. Police women negotiate and engage with offenders verbally, in ways that do not always emphasize dominance in the exchange. And so for police woman on the beat, far fewer of their encounters escalate to violence. Mascupathy– the sickness where male fears lead men to need to dominate -- is the reason that since 1982 an astonishing 134 mass shootings have been carried out in the United States by male shooters, and only 3 mass shootings have been carried out by women. If you wish to learn more, I recommend the powerful little book by Charlie Donaldson and Randy Flood: Mascupathy: Understanding and Healing the Malaise of American Manhood. https://menscenter.org/product/mascupathy/
It's incredibly sad that so many Officers of the Law are in it for the wrong reason. They were bullies all through school, therefore they now have a badge and gun to continue to be a bully. Now, however, it's not the school yard. Too often, for no reason known only to them, they are able to use those same bully ways from high school that result in the death of an innocent person. It's time to clean up our police forces. It's time to get rid of the bullies. There need to be psychological tests given to anyone who applies to a Police Academy to ensure they are doing it to uphold the law, not to beat an innocent person to death because they didn't like the way that person looked at them!
There are two equally huge and equally terrible truths here that we need to get unraveled involved here. One is the tragedy of Black people (ANY Black people) accepting that horrible evil of presumed inferiority of Black people. This is the only thing I can imagine that would allow that incredibly savage beating that took place.
And the other primary issue is the horrible legacy of the underlying origin of policing AT ALL, being based on the initial purpose of any sort of "policing" being the ad hoc "Slave Patrols" which were instituted throughout the colonial agricultural areas to seek out and return any runaway "slaves". The issue here is that as those informal slave patrols morphed into the police departments that we now see in all small towns, large cities and all in between, they kept some of that underlying formation purpose -- that the "target" of their activity was universally people of color, and they were explicitly not constrained in their apprehension behavior -- they were specifically authorized to use whatever force (or "punishment") that seemed fit to accomplish their purpose of returning this "property" to the "owner". Until we confront this deadly origin issue, any "training" discussions will be nothing other than shiftng deck chairs on this current sinking "Titanic".
If Americans were actually taught the history of slavery in this country & the history of the annihilation of native tribes, perhaps we could get to the root of the problem -instead students are fed pablum.
This will keep happening until we recognize that the first part of any police application should be how a person copes with stress, reacts to pack mentality and how they view and use power. If their reason for being a cop is the power they can use over others they should not be police officers because they'll never be peace officers.
Beautifully written, as always Mr Rather. I watched that video. It sickened me. The violence inflicted on another human cannot be justified. We may never understand the why. I have no words, except that each one of us needs to understand the other. We must focus on our common human bond. We must learn about different cultures and see the beauty in them. I feel that Gov DeSantis is so wrong in not permitting an elective course in African American studies in Florida. It is exactly what we need. In our classrooms. In our homes. In our communities. In our world. We must understand the struggles of people. Maybe then we can understand and love each other as human beings.
Not just police, our entire country needs to reform. Cruelty toward one another and any who cannot defend themselves can no longer be tolerated. The police committed these acts because there's no one to police them, as law enforcement professionals or as humans.
I watched this video and was struck by the way the officers seemed to immediately go to the red zone. No asking for license, registration and pulling Mr. Nichols out of the car and pushing him to the ground. It seemed more of gang fight than a simple traffic stop. I was reminded of being pulled over with a friend , as a young girl, on a dark stretch of road going to her house. A car with four guys were following us and I speeded up to get to a better lit stretch of road where where there was a convenience store/gas station open that we could pull into- something we were taught to do when we started driving. A Florida State trooper pulled both cars over and he immediately came to me and orders me out of the car and accused us of drag racing. He wouldn’t listen to me or my friend when we told him we did not know the guys in the car behind us even though they were saying the same thing. The situation was getting very tense and the trooper was starting to scare all of us. Thankfully, his Sargent pulled up behind us and diffused the situation. I am grateful for that Sargent with a cool head that night. To this day, I am nervous when a police car is behind me. I have know police officers over the years who should never have been giving a badge or a gun. They may start out with good training at the academy, but when they get “on the street” they succumb to the them or us me mentality that permeates many law enforcement agencies.
Sadly these police uniforms with testosterone were around in the 70s. I was married to one. He bragged about beating drunk Black men with his police mag light, a very heavy baton, leaving them unconscious. This disgusted me. Our marriage did not survive. This “hot dog” attitude is not new. What IS new is a female police chief who fired these cowboys and refused to protect them as many police departments do. Good for her.
My family is black, biracial, and white. We are feeling this death very personally. My 16-year-old granddaughter and her father wept and grieved after they watched the video. I felt physically sick. My confidence in and trust of law enforcement writ large is at a very low point. I am not sure what kind of situation would motivate me to call for their aid and bring them to my home. I fear for my family members every single day. Right now, America feels like a very dangerous place to live. How do we fix that? Can we fix that?
Mustering something out of tragedy has become the ongoing project in America 2023. In one evening, we watched Paul Pelosi being bludgeoned, Tyrie being executed and continuous mass shootings too numerous to mention or track. Our culture of violence has become as viral as Covid. The real danger as I see it is for this culture to become so normalized that we come to accept it as "that's just the way things are". As we empathize with another mother burying her child, let's make a commitment to each other to spread kindness like a virus to offset the evil which swirls around us.
I struggle with being hopeful that a positive step forward will actually come to pass. Every day we are bombarded with “stirring the pot” by those who are responsible for misinformation, deflection and distraction, the masterminds of the January 6, 2021, unbelievable, unAmerican attack on our democracy. I vividly remember watching the news on television in the early 1950’s as black people including women and children, in Southern states, were violently sprayed with fire hoses, by fireman, just for gathering to be recognized as American citizens. I could not understand who would allow this pain to be inflected on these people. It is 70 years later. Protect and Serve is an honorable concept and many LE try their best. With every mass shooting, especially when children are the specific victims, we get outraged once again. It happens again though. Mr Rather, Mr Kirschner and Dr Heather Cox Richardson , have helped educate me on many levels these past two years. I NEED their reminders about our past national history. I try to keep Steady. “Let us hope we can muster something hopeful out of this tragedy.” Please read what Tyre D Nichols says about his photography, linked by Dr Richardson in her posting of last evening. His “hope” ceased prematurely. Rest in Peace, young Tyre D Nichols.
Having lived with and loved a photographer for over 50 years I thought I would share another side of Tyre Nichols.
https://thiscaliforniakid2.wixsite.com/tnicholsphotography/about
All I have to say is that if this is what they do while carrying body cams, and knowing they’re being recorded, imagine what happens when they’re not.
SORROW! GRIEF! HORROR! Questions. Why were these officers willing to commit a violent murderous attack with full body cameras running, completely aware their actions would be seen by monitors and higher-ups. This has to be bigger than 5 rogue cops... attitude is not confined to rank.
I’m always in awe of the way you so eloquently bring all sides to the table.
However; for me, I have only anger.
How can we continue to stand by while our neighbours are being murdered. In cold blood.
By the ones we’ve entrusted to protect us.
God help us..:
THE DEADLY CULTURE OF “WARRIOR” POLICING that killed Tyre Nichols is emblematic of mascupathy in our culture today. That term was coined by a colleague of mine who has worked with Men’s violence and Men’s healing for many years, a northern Michigan man who wrote a powerful little book about it. What happened to this beautiful young man Tyre Nichols of 33 years, who called out in despair for his mother, as he was beaten to death just 100 yards away from home? The best we can say about it – as with the killing of George Floyd – is that Tyre Nichol’s unintended sacrifice represents a significant turning point for policing in America today. It is a turning point in how we will view, and how we will finally reform policing in this country -- largely in response to Black Lives Matter and cell phones. But also because of the sacrifices of George Floyd and Tyre Nichol’s and countless others, police body camera footage will now be released swiftly, and the once solid blue wall of silence covering up the most abusive practices is now melting.
Was Tyre Nichols death the result of racism? Yes it was --but a complex derivation of it, one that is likely a factor in much of black-on-black violence. But beyond racism, Tyre’s murder was most powerfully symptomatic of pathologies in male culture. The culture of mascupathy infects not only the men in “the Thin Blue Line” but also permeates sports (2 of the policeman were football stars) and video gaming, much of military culture, and the current MAGA power politics of the patriarchy. What a lot of women and men (and nonbinary folks) don’t know though –what they fail to see is that those 5 big men (all over 200 lbs) who beat the 140 lb Tyre to death were frightened, they were running scared. Not scared that Tyre would hurt them back physically, but that their macho face and posturing would crack from empathy, crack in the presence of their peers. That they would suffer from those inevitable failures in mascupathy that are happening all around us today. Those cracks in male posturing are the result of feminism and the “me too” movement for sure, but also the result of the conscious men’s movement, and now too of the courageous nonbinary explorations of young people today.
Most essentially, the fatal flaw of American Policing comes from the belief one must first and foremost “subdue and dominate” those seen to be violation of the law. This simple, but misguided belief and practice has led to countless tragic and unnecessary deaths, deaths that began with police chasing after broken taillights or stopping the sales of illegal cigarettes. This over-used approach of physically subduing and dominating I believe is the single biggest cause of wrongful deaths at the hands of police today. And it exists in the culture of policing for both men and women, but because of mascupathy, the worse offenders statistically are police-men. Police-women are not wedded to the culture of fear and dominance that permeates mascupathic behavior in men. They are less afraid to show feelings of empathy, compassion, understanding in the presence of their peers on the force. Police women negotiate and engage with offenders verbally, in ways that do not always emphasize dominance in the exchange. And so for police woman on the beat, far fewer of their encounters escalate to violence. Mascupathy– the sickness where male fears lead men to need to dominate -- is the reason that since 1982 an astonishing 134 mass shootings have been carried out in the United States by male shooters, and only 3 mass shootings have been carried out by women. If you wish to learn more, I recommend the powerful little book by Charlie Donaldson and Randy Flood: Mascupathy: Understanding and Healing the Malaise of American Manhood. https://menscenter.org/product/mascupathy/
Seamus Norgaard
It's incredibly sad that so many Officers of the Law are in it for the wrong reason. They were bullies all through school, therefore they now have a badge and gun to continue to be a bully. Now, however, it's not the school yard. Too often, for no reason known only to them, they are able to use those same bully ways from high school that result in the death of an innocent person. It's time to clean up our police forces. It's time to get rid of the bullies. There need to be psychological tests given to anyone who applies to a Police Academy to ensure they are doing it to uphold the law, not to beat an innocent person to death because they didn't like the way that person looked at them!
There are two equally huge and equally terrible truths here that we need to get unraveled involved here. One is the tragedy of Black people (ANY Black people) accepting that horrible evil of presumed inferiority of Black people. This is the only thing I can imagine that would allow that incredibly savage beating that took place.
And the other primary issue is the horrible legacy of the underlying origin of policing AT ALL, being based on the initial purpose of any sort of "policing" being the ad hoc "Slave Patrols" which were instituted throughout the colonial agricultural areas to seek out and return any runaway "slaves". The issue here is that as those informal slave patrols morphed into the police departments that we now see in all small towns, large cities and all in between, they kept some of that underlying formation purpose -- that the "target" of their activity was universally people of color, and they were explicitly not constrained in their apprehension behavior -- they were specifically authorized to use whatever force (or "punishment") that seemed fit to accomplish their purpose of returning this "property" to the "owner". Until we confront this deadly origin issue, any "training" discussions will be nothing other than shiftng deck chairs on this current sinking "Titanic".
Annabeth Balance
If Americans were actually taught the history of slavery in this country & the history of the annihilation of native tribes, perhaps we could get to the root of the problem -instead students are fed pablum.
This will keep happening until we recognize that the first part of any police application should be how a person copes with stress, reacts to pack mentality and how they view and use power. If their reason for being a cop is the power they can use over others they should not be police officers because they'll never be peace officers.
Beautifully written, as always Mr Rather. I watched that video. It sickened me. The violence inflicted on another human cannot be justified. We may never understand the why. I have no words, except that each one of us needs to understand the other. We must focus on our common human bond. We must learn about different cultures and see the beauty in them. I feel that Gov DeSantis is so wrong in not permitting an elective course in African American studies in Florida. It is exactly what we need. In our classrooms. In our homes. In our communities. In our world. We must understand the struggles of people. Maybe then we can understand and love each other as human beings.
Not just police, our entire country needs to reform. Cruelty toward one another and any who cannot defend themselves can no longer be tolerated. The police committed these acts because there's no one to police them, as law enforcement professionals or as humans.
I watched this video and was struck by the way the officers seemed to immediately go to the red zone. No asking for license, registration and pulling Mr. Nichols out of the car and pushing him to the ground. It seemed more of gang fight than a simple traffic stop. I was reminded of being pulled over with a friend , as a young girl, on a dark stretch of road going to her house. A car with four guys were following us and I speeded up to get to a better lit stretch of road where where there was a convenience store/gas station open that we could pull into- something we were taught to do when we started driving. A Florida State trooper pulled both cars over and he immediately came to me and orders me out of the car and accused us of drag racing. He wouldn’t listen to me or my friend when we told him we did not know the guys in the car behind us even though they were saying the same thing. The situation was getting very tense and the trooper was starting to scare all of us. Thankfully, his Sargent pulled up behind us and diffused the situation. I am grateful for that Sargent with a cool head that night. To this day, I am nervous when a police car is behind me. I have know police officers over the years who should never have been giving a badge or a gun. They may start out with good training at the academy, but when they get “on the street” they succumb to the them or us me mentality that permeates many law enforcement agencies.