Well, last month,
the Memphis Police Department released
body Cam footage of an incident there
showing the beating of Tyree Nichols.
It was another example of an unarmed
black man killed by police officers.
Joining our conversation this morning
and to continue our coverage about
this is our racial equity expert,
Doctor Rosemarie
Allen. Doctor Allen,
thank you so much for being with us.
Thank you for having me.
I want to talk about something
that wasn't something we heard
about in the initial moments of
this video that was released.
It was traumatizing for a lot of people.
To watch this,
one big observation was these
were five black officers who
were involved and a lot of people
have been asking the question,
does this impact departments
across the country when they say
they're trying to solve these
problems by diversifying their
departments and bringing in other
black officers to to help with
within this this specific job?
Well, definitely the efforts
to diversify policing,
to diversify law enforcement is very, very.
Important we know that black officers,
black and Hispanic officers,
are less likely to kill black men less.
They have fewer arrest,
and they also have fewer stops.
But we have to understand that
that diversity is addressing
the symptom of the issue.
Without addressing the inherent racism
that takes place in law enforcement
agencies all over the country,
we will not be able to make strides.
When an officer enters a system that's
deeply rooted in systemic racism,
then they're more likely to develop the
same biases that's upheld by that system.
So it must be a twofold process,
right? We can't look at
this one case and say, well,
it clearly didn't work in
this situation. You're right,
this is a symptom of a bigger cause,
of a bigger root cause there.
Absolutely, absolutely.
And we also have to look at the the
history of policing and law enforcement.
In our country.
Today's policing evolved from
slave patrols and slave patrols
were developed to hunt down,
capture and return enslaved
humans to their masters.
There were also created to terrorize
enslaved people need to deter
revolts and also to to discipline
and the enslaved to show that they
had dominion over their bodies.
And these slave patrols were.
They they they were funded by
local governments and they really.
Gave white people, white officers,
dominion and power over black
bodies with no accountability
for how they were treated.
So when we look at policing today,
we have to remember that foundation
because racism is in the very
fabric and brick and mortar of
modern day police policing.
And when you look at the parallels,
we see slave patrols.
Parallel to domestic terrorist organizations
and even current day policing.
So we have to look at that history
and address that history in order
to really move forward are these
things will happen regardless
of the race of the officer.
Doctor Allen, I want to ask you from your
perspective as an expert. Are you afraid?
Because there are a lot of departments
that are doing really good work to
diversify and to stop incidents like
what we witnessed there in Memphis.
Do you worry, though,
that people will use this one case
as a scapegoat to say this clearly
isn't the problem we should be fixing?
Well, actually we're seeing that.
So we're seeing that.
People are saying, OK,
well black officers are killing black men,
so it's it's not racism.
It's racism. It is.
And because same race people are engaging
in these acts doesn't mean it's not racism.
We have to look at internalized racism,
but more importantly,
we must look at systemic
and institutional racism.
When you walk into an environment
where these values and sentiments
and biases are upheld and you are not
intentional about addressing them,
then the people who are within
that environment will develop.
The biases and racism of that environment
Doctor Allen, I know we are just
touching the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to this conversation.
We're going to have to have you
back and keep this as it evolves
and monitor this very closely.
But thank you for helping us get started
and thank you so much for
addressing this issue.
Absolutely, Doctor Alan, we appreciate
your expert advice as always.