Though Thousands of Miles Away, Tyre Nichols’ Death Affected Oaklanders
By Daisha Williams
Post News Group Intern
Like many other cities nationwide, Oakland was heavily impacted by Tyre Nichols’ death on January 10 in Memphis, Tenn., three days after being brutally beaten by multiple police officers.
The officers allegedly pulled Nichols over for reckless driving. What followed was revealed on January 27 when the footage of the body cameras that the officers were wearing was released.
The officers first verbally degraded Nichols, who remained calm and respectful. The officers involved originally claimed that Nichols had attempted to run from them; the footage shows this to be false.
Five police officers were charged with Nichols’ murder on January 26. All five of those officers were Black men. One other officer was fired days later, and several more are under investigation.
The Memphis Fire Department also dismissed a lieutenant, and two Emergency Medical Technicians who had been at the scene lost their jobs for failure to administer aid to Nichols.
Oakland has always been an epicenter for social justice and advocacy.
George Galvis is the executive director and co-founder of CURYJ, pronounced “courage,” which stands for Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice.
In response to a question about how the Nichols case affects Oakland communities, he responded “I think it’s important to think that there are many Tyre Nichols’ and while in this particular moment there is righteous outrage, as there should be for the blatant and egregious murder of a young Black man for a fraudulent traffic stop, we have many, many cases here in the Bay Area that we perhaps have more agency over as Oaklanders.”
Galvis also talked about the reputation the Bay Area, and California as a whole has. Although it is liberal in comparison to other places, many people assume that oppression doesn’t exist here.
Nichols’ death reminds Oaklanders of its distant and recent history with police terror and brutality.
In 1966, the Black Panthers were founded here, and one of the main things they fought against was police brutality.
In 2009, Oscar Grant was shot by a BART officer at Fruitvale Station. A BART ride away, multiple San Francisco Police officers shot Mario Woods 41 times in 2015.
Police have killed 64 people in Oakland alone in the past decade, over 60% of those being Black people. (http://www.antievictionmappingproject.net/opd.html) Due to this there have been many events in Oakland in response to Nichol’s death.
On January 29, there was a protest in downtown Oakland organized by the Anti Police-Terror Project. On February 6, there was a rally at Oakland Technical High School led by Youth Vs Apocalypse and CURJ.
Other organizations in Oakland are doing similar things such as the Anti Police Terror Project (ATPT) and the Love Not Blood Campaign.
In an interview about legislation to make police accountable, Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, the director of the Love Not Blood Campaign, told California Black Media “What happened to Tyre impacted so many in California. It re-traumatized many of the families,” said Johnson. “Many families’ wounds have been reopened. Many families’ hopes that there has been some progress have been totally erased,” continued Johnson.
In hopes of preventing members of the community from hurting more than necessary, the Love Not Blood campaign sent out a letter when the footage of Nichols’ beating was released.
The letter said, “The video of Tyre Nichols is horrific so think in advance about how you may begin to feel, and your thoughts, and make sure that you honor those thoughts and take the steps to cope with the trauma.
“If you do decide to watch the video or consistently listen to the news of Tyre Nichols’ murder be sure to not be alone when watching or listening consistently.”
If you would like to be more involved in Oakland’s fight against police brutality, you can find more information on the websites of any of the organizations mentioned.
https://lovenotbloodcampaign.com/
https://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/
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