When I think about the power structures in Memphis and Tennessee,
what we have to do is push for more of a culture that does not support police brutality.
So many times, police officers have a 'code of blue,'
where when they do wrong, they keep it within themselves.
But what we have to do is push for more oversight,
push for more community engagement, and also look at the laws that we have
that are working and build on those, and look at the laws that are not working
and figure out how we can make those better
so this won't happen to nobody again.
A few years ago, in the legislature, we tried to implement
8 Can’t Wait suggestions into law.
And while all of 'em were not adopted, we did adopt two.
One is de-escalation, and the other is the duty to intervene,
which is what many of the officers were held accountable for violating
in this instance of Tyre Nichols.
It would behoove us to adopt the rest of these policies
and put them in place so that we can continue to be a blueprint
for the rest of the nation of what it looks like to hold officers accountable
and use that as an opportunity to rebuild community trust
because our trust has been bruised based on the things that have occurred.
Some of the obstacles would be—when I think about making sure we can have
more accountability for law enforcement— would probably be
the supermajority Republicans in the legislature who have been very pro-law enforcement.
So making sure they understand
that officers need to be held accountable and have to have parameters in place.
Also, the community—making sure that they can heal from this incident
and making sure we can start rebuilding
that relationship between community and police,
where we feel like we can trust one another to protect each other.
When I think about the Scorpion unit, I think the intent of the police force
to create this unit wasn't to cause any distress or harm to anybody.
It is no secret that Memphis has challenges when it comes to violent crime
because of decades and decades of disinvestment in our city.
When it comes to underfunded schools,
housing discrimination, lack of jobs that provide living wages,
all of those contribute to an increase in violent crime and crime in our city.
We have to come up with programs and opportunities
to attack violent crime, especially in crime hot spots across the city.
I do think that they need increased oversight, officers
who can handle a heightened capacity of leadership and responsibility,
and to make sure these programs are truly targeting
criminals who are doing wrong in our city and not innocent folks.
So there is a lot that we can learn from this to hopefully get it right,
and I'm hopeful that our city can get it right.
But at the end of the day, don't let this situation with Mr. Nichols
deter you from the fact that Memphis is an amazing city with amazing people.
It has amazing culture, and the vast majority of people wanna see this city thrive
and believe that everyone has some sort of obligation to seeing this city grow
and continue to be a world-class city, like the rest of our urban cities across this nation.
I know you're tired,
and I know you're frustrated with the recent events
that have gone on in Memphis and across the nation,
but we must keep fighting for a better tomorrow.
Our ancestors have contributed their lives
and their families to make sure we can get to this point.
And we must not give up.
I hope that we continue to stay involved and engaged in the community process
when it comes to police so that we can further policies
and hold them accountable when they get outta line.
But I hope that everyone uses this opportunity to heal
because we, we can't survive in this society without one another.
And what we have to do is make sure we could find common ground,
hold each other accountable, and protect our community.