that is Benjamin crump, civil
rights attorney represent in the
family of tyre Nichols.
Geoff: As we just heard, tyre
Nichols's family -- as well as
Memphis authorities -- said it
was important to release the
video to the public to convey
the brutality of the attack.
And there were many warnings
about the graphic violence in
it, but for many who have seen
the video, it is traumatizing,
and one of far too many like it.
Some say the public is exposed
to these videos too easily and
that it raises real concern for
a person's mental health.
We're going to explore some of
this with riana Elyse Anderson,
a licensed clinical psychologist
and a current fellow at
Stanford's center for advanced
study in the behavioral
sciences.
Thank you for being with us.
Riana: Thank you for having me.
Geoff: The tragic killing of
tyre Nichols by police has
permeated social media, shown on
the news, it is difficult to
avoid watching it.
How do these horrific videos
affect those who end up watching
them?
Riana: The first is a classic
trauma response where you are
looking around and thinking
maybe this will happen to me, so
that is hypervigilance.
It is bouncing around in your
head, that is rumination.
Those are some classic
responses.
The second is if you are numb to
it.
If you have the same background,
you don't want yourself to spike
every time you watch something
like this so you might numb
yourself so you are not
responding every time we see a
video.
The third and the thing that
makes me more nervous is we
are teaching when we see these
videos, you are learning to
dehumanize people who look like
this.
A number of responses, none of
them quite good for our body or
mind.
Geoff: I want to pick up on one
of the things you said, in this
era of police body cameras and
cellphone video's, we have seen
police killings captured on tape
not just of tyre Nichols, but
Eric Garner, George Floyd,
philando Castile, Walter Scott
-- the list unfortunately goes
on and on.
What do you see is the compound
effect of that?
Riana: Yeah, you know, again,
when we think about what can
happen to our mind and body,
there are so many things that
either from a response where we
believe it will happen or what
is more common now, a
nonresponse, our bodies and
minds are getting used to it,
that component response is
something I am a bit nervous is
leading to ways we are believing
this is a common occurrence.
It is potentially reducing the
amount of agency we think we
have in stopping something like
this.
It is something that is really
impacting those watching it,
both the target demographic and
those who are not.
Geoff: Let's talk more
specifically.
How should lack folks in
particular grapple with and
process the stuff?
Riana: One of the things I am
mindful of is there was a lot of
warning this was coming and so
for a number of clinicians who I
know, including myself, we chose
not to watch it.
We took the warning as a sign we
would not engage with this
video, it will not teach us
anything new, it will not bring
back our brother, so why watch
it?
That's the first thing I am
mindful of.
But if you chose to watch it or
it wasn't something you knew was
coming on, there are three quick
things I think you can do with
those feelings.
The first is to talk it out, can
you process it with someone you
care about?
Can you walk it out, do
behavioral change?
We saw a number of protests this
weekend.
Can you put your feet on the
ground to do some thing about
this?
And the final thing is to think
about things that are a bit more
in policy and in writing.
Can we talk to these police
agencies, can we do things
locally and even nationally that
might impact the way policing
changes so we don't have to see
these videos again?
Geoff: How should parents and
people who care for children
prepare for some of the
questions I might get?
Riana: Such a great question.
It's definitely part of my work.
The talk that parents of color
are having with their children,
the most important thing in this
preparation is being ready for
yourself.
Have you done the work, have you
thought about and processed and
prepared for how you are
feeling?
If you are upset and frustrated,
do you tap into that you know
how you are feeling?
Have you processed with someone
else?
The first thing I encourage
parents is to be ready to talk
it out and feel it for
themselves.
The second thing, when you are
talking to your child or young
people you care for, listen.
You don't have to have all of
the answers or know why
structural racism continues to
this day.
That's not for us to understand.
That's for the folks who are
perpetrating it to stop.
You don't have to have all of
the answers, but listening and
helping your child to process
and respond and say I don't
know, to cry together and be
vulnerable, those are the
biggest things you can do.
Geoff: It strikes me that when
these videos are shown over and
over and over again, that the
culture can become desensitized
to it and the result is you have
what amounts to a national
spectacle of lack of death.
Give me your thinking on that.
How should we better understand
and avoid that?
Riana: I think there are two
minds of this, first is is it
good to be released?
We love accountability and
making sure we know the facts of
a case or situation.
It is also important to be
mindful of the impact on our
mind and body.
That trauma cannot only make you
think about and be frustrated
and traumatized by it, but it
can also where at your body as
well.
When we think about how we can
limit our consumption, that is
something we have agency over,
we can choose whether we limit
our own consumption, and it's
also a question for the media
and police -- are there better
methods of sharing or making it
available?
Is there a repository you can
check into if you are an adult
and you have to sign in for
verification?
There are ways we can think
about holding these officers and
agencies accountable without
leading to further
traumatization of the community.
Geoff: Riana is a current fellow
at Stanford center for advanced
study in behavioral sciences.
Thank you for your insight.
I appreciate it.
Riana: Thank you so much.