After the beating death of Tyre Nichols by five Memphis police officers in January and other abuses that have come to light, the police department is under mounting pressure to change its culture.
"We criminalize poor Black people" "They're going to find what most people here in Memphis have already known for years – that the police are targeting these specific poorer and lower-income zip codes, majority Black areas .
. . because we criminalize poor Black people," Sherman says."They aren't being held accountable and they aren't holding the police accountable," says Sherman."Folks are still being stopped. They're still being harmed. They're still being beat up." The latest incident now under state investigation was a 19-year-old Black man who died in police custody last month after being detained for allegedly rummaging through mailboxes.The Rev. Earle Fisher says what's going on in Memphis should be viewed in context of the push for criminal justice reform across the country."If you've been Black in America for 15 minutes, you know something about the trauma related to policing."The Rev. Earle Fisher says what's going on in Memphis should be viewed in context of the push for criminal justice reform across the country."If you've been Black in America for 15 minutes, you know something about the trauma related to policing.", senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in the predominantly Black Whitehaven neighborhood, says what's going on in Memphis should be viewed in context of the push for criminal justice reform across the country. "If you've been Black in America for 15 minutes, you know something about the trauma related to policing," Fisher says. Fisher is part of a group of clergy who petitioned the Justice Department to conduct a pattern or practice investigation. He says the probe has the potential to validate and verify what activists have long complained about. "Now, at least when these reports come out, they won't say that that's just that radical preacher in Whitehaven," he says."No, the Department of Justice said this."Fisher and others are calling for more investment to address poverty in Memphis, and less contact and conflict between residents and police. "Show some humanness," says local food truck operator Keedran Franklin, an organizer for the group Black Man Build."Because if I look at data, I can I just look at data. But if I look at people, I can learn their story and I can be empathetic. I understand that not every scenario is the same." Franklin says that not every Black man should be treated like a criminal just because they live in a community where Black men may have committed crimes.This combo of booking images provided by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office shows, from top row from left, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, bottom row from left, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith. The former Memphis police officers are charged in the January killing of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who was handcuffed and brutally beaten by officers following a traffic stop.This combo of booking images provided by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office shows, from top row from left, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, bottom row from left, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith. The former Memphis police officers are charged in the January killing of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who was handcuffed and brutally beaten by officers following a traffic stop."I think Tyree's case just was the straw that broke the camel's back," says RowVaughn Wells, Tyre Nichols mother. "My son's death opened up the doors. I hate that it all had to come down to this. However, Memphis brought this on themselves.""For them to even come in knowing my son's name? That's big for me."
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