TYRE NICHOLS MURDER! Police Violence, Systemic Racism, and the Specter of Capitalism! | T.O.L.

In this episode of his "Thinking Out Loud" series, Double D examines the brutal police killing of Memphis native Tyre Nichols, with a focus on the activism surrounding the incident, as well as a broader discussion of police violence in the United States.

Opening the video, Double D laments the murder of another young person of color at the hands of militant police. He goes on to roll video from the murder of Tyre Nichols, asking apologists for police to reconcile the veracity and regularity of this sort of violence with the supposed "serve and protect" purpose of policing.

After the video, Double D points out that the supposed justification for the detainment which led to Tyre's murder was "reckless driving", moving on, Double D rolls video from after Tyre's beating which depicts officers laughing and joking around while bragging about how they had brutalized Tyre. After the video Double D comments on the gross level of "one-ups-man-ship" present in the officers dialogue, he shows this as a prime example of the sickening culture of dehumanization and moral justification which is the norm within police departments throughout the country.

Double D transitions away from the incident itself, and begins to examine the coalition building and tactics Memphis residents used to secure concessions from the police department as well as the city of Memphis. He highlights two organizations, "Memphis Community Safety Team" who acted and Marshalls for subsequent protests, and "Decarcerate Memphis" a more Anarchist leaning organization with a focus on anti-police, anti-prison-industrial-complex actions. He lauds the Memphis coalition for their thorough planning, efficiency, and dedication; and suggests that this sort of militant organizing amounts to the building blocks of a larger solidarity movement that could be capable of building a general strike.

He asks his viewers to imagine every local organization, left organization, and independent party united in a common action with a common list of demands organized in such a way that they could sustain a lasting general strike capable of winning systemic change. He points out that throughout history it has been this level of organizing which has taken moments of spontaneous uprising and turned them into actions of revolutionary system upheaval; he asks socialists, communists, and progressive elements to remember this lesson as they move forward with their mobilization efforts.

Double D reports status updates from a comrade on the ground, who details an action involving shutting down the 1-55 highway while maneuvering around antagonizing police as well as potentially reactionary elements. Double D uses this as an example as to why militant organization is the only way to carry out actions in an effective and efficient way capable of securing victory. He notes that the Memphis coalition succeeded in winning concessions, notably the discharge and arrest of five of the officers responsible, as well as the disbanding of the associated SCORPION police unit. Again Double D lauds this coalitions victories, but reminds his audience to be wary of reforms to an inherently pro-capitalist, pro-racist organization. He steers the dialogue around reform back to radical upheaval of systems, suggesting that their can be no lasting victory until we have achieved police and prison abolition, and have meaningfully begun the transition away from the capitalist modes of appropriation which create crime and policing in the first place.

Rounding off the video, Double D discusses the topic of racism as it applies to the instance of the Tyre Nichols murder. He touches on how right wing pundits and other reactionaries have touted the fact that Tyre died at the hands of black officers as an example that "race" has nothing to do with any issue surrounding policing. Double D acknowledges that race alone is not the only factor which creates violent policing, pointing again to capitalist property relations, he points out, however, that the victims skin color can still be a focal point.

Quoting Frantz Fanon's 'Black Skin, White Masks' Double D examines the insidious and corrupting influence racism has in the white supremacist super structure, pointing out the reality of "internalized racism" which takes the caricature of race and plants it in the minds of people of color, compelling them to "mask" their blackness, even up to the point of embracing a dehumanization of their own racial community; he notes that this processes is especially prevalent in groups which exercise power, privileges, or authority over others.

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