‘That could have been me.’ N.J. reporter reflects on the beating of Tyre Nichols | Opinion

NJ Advance Media Reporter Makes TikTok Videos at the NAACP Covention in Atlantic City

NJ Advance Media reporter Deion Johnson stands on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, N.J., on Saturday, July 16, 2022, during the NAACP National Convention.Jim Lowney For NJ Advance Media

As hundreds of mourners prepare to celebrate the life of Tyre Nichols today, I can’t help but recall the anger, disgust and fear that coursed through my veins last week as I watched videos of Memphis Police officers brutally beating him nearly to death.

I immediately thought: That could have been me.

I questioned whether I should run when the police stopped me. I asked myself: How in the hell is someone supposed to remain calm when they are being choked or beaten to death by the very people who are supposed to protect them?

I thought about George Floyd, whose killing in 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer was supposed to bring reform, and Philando Castile, who died in 2016 after police shot him during a traffic stop in Minnesota even though he did everything my parents told me to do. I also thought of Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot in 2021 in Brooklyn during a traffic stop. I wondered if these killings would ever end.

We have been taught to smile, be courteous, stay calm, keep our hands where police can see them, and warned not to make sudden moves when stopped by the cops. We have been told to speak well, educate ourselves and work hard — hoping these things will protect us.

I’ve done all of these things plus some to become successful and acceptable.

Yet as a young Black man, I am often terrified during interactions with police, always aware that I live in a society that views me with suspicion, always aware that if I say the wrong thing or make a wrong move, it could cost me my life.

What happened to Tyre Nichols confirmed it. And the involvement of Black officers made it that much worse. As Black men, they should have known better.

On Jan. 7, Nichols, 29, was driving home — something I do every day. Officers stopped him, violently dragged him from his car and attacked him, according to police video of the incident. There was no explanation for why they stopped him. No request for license and registration, no order to step out of the car and keep his hands where police could see them. Still, he tried to comply. When that failed to stop the assault on him, Nichols did the same thing I would have. He ran.

Yards from his home, police caught up to him and beat him nearly to death, punching, kicking and hitting him, the video showed. He cried out for his mother, hoping she would hear him. And at that moment, I connected with him because your mother is usually your first line of defense as a young Black man.

It broke my heart to hear him yell for her, to know he needed her and that she couldn’t save him.

It was stressful and emotionally exhausting watching the video, knowing it could have been me.

Sadly, police killings of Black men have become so common that we almost expect them - even normalize them.

We have come to accept that some law enforcement officers will always see us as nothing more than common criminals and treat us as such.

But we should never accept it or get used to it. Something must change.

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Deion Johnson may be reached at djohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DeionRJohhnson

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