Editor’s Note: New episodes of the podcast “The Assignment with Audie Cornish” drop each Thursday. Click right here to take heed to her newest episode on Life After the Traffic Stop.
Act Daily News
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The footage of Tyre Nichols’ lethal police arrest is difficult to look at, however for individuals who have survived brutal police encounters, it may be insufferable.
“I’m very intentional about not watching those types of videos. They are extremely triggering for me,” stated Leon Ford, who survived a police taking pictures and now works as an activist for the social change group The Hear Foundation. “I’d encourage people not to watch them because it’s going to weigh on you.”
In the Act Daily News podcast “The Assignment,” Audie Cornish spoke with two Black males who say they, like Nichols, have skilled police brutality first-hand and survived.
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was kicked, punched and pepper sprayed by a bunch of Memphis officers final month in Tennessee, an incident that led to his demise days later and widespread protests after footage of the brutal encounter was launched.
Ford was shot by Pittsburgh police in 2012 after being pulled over for a visitors cease by officers looking for a suspect with an identical identify, in line with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. One of the bullets left the then 19 yr outdated paralyzed from the waist down. The officers concerned within the taking pictures had been by no means criminally charged. Ford was awarded $5.5 million in a civil lawsuit towards the town, the Post-Gazette reported.
“I didn’t want to live. I felt like I had no purpose after being shot,” stated Ford. “I felt worthless.”
Tim Alexander stated he was shot at and struck by Newark police in 1985 when he was 19, a lawsuit obtained by Politico from the time particulars. He was arrested after being misidentified by police. A grand jury refused to indict the officers concerned. He filed a civil lawsuit towards the officers and division, which resulted in a settlement for an undisclosed quantity, in line with Politico.
“I didn’t have the support that I have now. I believe that public opinion in regard to police has shifted significantly since then,” stated Ford, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2022.
Today, when individuals ship Ford movies displaying police utilizing violence, he says he immediately deletes the messages.
Alexander, nonetheless, has watched the footage of Nichols’ arrest “over and over again.”
“I could barely get through it once,” Cornish stated, shocked by his response in the course of the podcast.
Alexander stated he felt like a murder investigator watching the video, attempting to grasp what occurred intimately. He’s now a lawyer targeted on civil rights and a former legislation enforcement officer.
“I’ve never seen an officer – or even heard of an officer – standing somebody up off the ground because your job is to get control and be done, but they stood [Nichols] up so they could punch him back down,” stated Alexander. “It bothered me to no end. And it bothers me still.”
The two survivors had been cut up on watching the video of the arrest. But if you happen to resolve to look at it, they agreed on a number of items of recommendation.
First, don’t take this content material flippantly – these are individuals, not a hashtag.
“I would remind people that these are real people on these videos,” stated Ford. “This is not a movie. This is real life.”
Second, they advocate not sharing the traumatic video with victims and their households; they might be selecting to abstain. Watching violent police encounters makes some individuals relive their experiences.
“I see how sharing these videos causes more harm to the families than good,” stated Ford.
And lastly, pay attention to the collateral harm round these lethal occasions.
“There are six families that were destroyed that night,” stated Alexander referring to the households of the Memphis officers who had been terminated within the speedy aftermath of Nichols’ demise. “When you have a video that shows your child kicking a young man in the head over and over again and having him stand up so you could punch him in the face over and over again, and that child’s wearing a badge. And you think of how proud you were that day that person graduated from the police academy.”
It’s essential to maintain your humanity and never grow to be desensitized, they stated. Try to empathize with all of the households which are impacted.
“You can’t even imagine the horror that the victim’s family is going through, as well as the perpetrator’s family,” Alexander stated.
Source: www.cnn.com