Yes, Race Was an Issue

The topic of the day among the Wall Street Journal opinion writers seems to be the killing of Tyre Nichols. Gerard Baker has a lament:

But of course the largest question, whenever a black man dies at the hands of law enforcement, is swirling around race.

For many conservatives, in this case it is a self-evidently absurd question. Five black cops kill a black man and the left immediately insists it is racism at work. But you don’t have to believe that the black officers were somehow acting as unwitting agents of white supremacism, or subscribe to the canon of critical race theory, to ponder how the race of suspects affects how they are treated by police.

The right question to ask is: Would the Memphis officers have behaved as they did if the man they were pursuing had been white? We can’t know the answer. But we can frame the question differently: Is it less probable that a confrontation between these officers and a suspect would have resulted in his violent death if he had been, let’s say, a middle-aged white man rather than a 29-year-old black man? There is still much room for uncertainty but I think the answer here is clearly yes.

This, in itself, of course doesn’t prove some wider social or systemic racism. The problem, as well documented in studies of police shootings, is that young black men are disproportionately more likely to be involved in serious crime—and in encounters with police—than are other demographics. This inevitably results in a greater suspicion in the minds of police officers (and the rest of us) that a young black man may pose a greater risk.

This is rational and not primal bigotry. But at what point does this rational, inference-making blur into a set of unworthy assumptions about the behavior of all young black men, even—perhaps especially—among other black men?

There’s a darker question about race in this case which comes to mind as you watch the video of the assault.

The initial phase of the interaction is a depressing picture of incompetent policing. Five burly officers are unable to restrain a single unarmed, underweight man, and he somehow fleetingly escapes the onslaught of arms, fists, batons, tasers they bring to the unequal struggle.

while William Galston wonders what can be done?

Mark LeSure, a retired Memphis police sergeant, offered context for these events that I found illuminating. Over the past decade, he recounted, pay cuts, pension-plan reductions, and other issues had induced many of the force’s veterans to retire, and those hired to fill their place were far less experienced. Elite units such as Scorpion were staffed with police at much earlier points in their careers than previously, raising risks when they were told to move aggressively against street crime. “They let their emotions get the best of them,” he said, “and there was no veteran officer there to stop them.”

To be sure, the presence of a veteran officer is no panacea; the senior officer involved in the George Floyd murder was the most egregious offender. Still, Mr. LeSure’s street-level explanation has the ring of truth. Police officers are subject to all of the vulnerabilities of the human condition, including what St. Augustine called the libido dominandi—the impulse to exert dominance over others. It will take better training, improved on-the-ground leadership, and more reliable mechanisms of accountability to lean against this impulse, which can be fatal when it drives the actions of cops on the beat.

There’s a lot to digest here but let me try to break it into pieces. Young black men clearly have problems. They account for a disproportionate number of those killed by police:

Find more statistics at Statista
and an even more disproportionate number of those apprehended. But look at the graph above more closely. Nearly twice as many whites were killed by police last year than blacks. Yes, the number remains disproportionate. If I were to relate apprehensions to killed it would be interesting but I doubt that it is possible to disaggregate legitimate bona fide apprehensions from hassling. Based on crimes reported I would suggest that young black men are responsible for a disproportionate number of crimes.

But there’s an additional issue. I don’t know what other people were taught about interactions with police but I was taught to be very respectful and police and absolutely, positively never wise off, criticize, protest, or resist when dealing with the police. One of the things very apparent from the extremely distasteful bodycam footage is that Mr. Nichols was resisting arrest. He was clearly in fear for his life, with good reason as events proved. The question remains: how strongly did his resistance figure in subsequent events?

As to Mr. Galston’s remarks I am fairly certain that his proposal regarding libido dominandi is unrealistic. If I am not mistaken in law enforcement that is called “situational control” and police officers are taught that it is vitally important to maintain it during an apprehension. Indeed, use of force is generally contingent on using it to regain situational control.

In summary race impinges on this situation in many ways possibly including why Mr. Nichols was apprehended, how the law enforcement officers responded, and how Mr. Nichols responded. But not in the simplistic way that some are suggesting. As noted above whites are killed by police officers, too.