Tyre Nichols: The Video
No, I'm not watching the Tyre Nichols video.
For those not living in the States: Tyre Nichols was a young African American man who died from injuries he suffered after being beaten, pepper sprayed, and tazed by five police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. His encounter with the officers began during a traffic stop. The five officers who assaulted him now face murder and other charges.
News reports stated the video of this attack was so deeply and violently brutal that children and other vulnerable person's should not watch it.
My initial reaction to that report was to acknowledge I am not a child and also to acknowledge I am a vulnerable person.
We are all vulnerable persons.
I accepted I am vulnerable to experiencing the trauma on display in the video. I accepted Tricia Hersey's (the Nap Bishop on Instagram) definition of the video as "trauma porn": a second hand experience making us think we can experience something we can't personally know, but somehow feel drawn to see or observe. (Her term, my definition)
I accepted my observation of this man's near death agony--his cries for his mother as he was punched, kicked, and beaten with a baton, his broken body flailing on a street corner-- would not demonstrate solidarity with him. My observation would not bring about swift justice, would not change laws, would not comfort his family, would not undo the painful and destructive blows that ended his life.
What will matter? I don't have complete answers.
What I know for sure is this: there is an absolute necessity to protect our hearts, souls, and minds from the torrent of violence society feeds us and prompts us to consume. There is a need to know the difference between action and meaningful work. If we want change, we must be capable of creating and sustaining change. We cannot do that when our spirits are endlessly traumatized.
Everyone is entitled to a time of rest and restoration and protection from the entities that steal, kill, and destroy.
Effective activism: yes. Endless trauma:no
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