Memphis

As I watched the video of the Memphis police beating a man to death, I was reminded first of the Rodney King incident in 1991 in LA and then the beating to death of George Floyd in Minneapolis just a couple of years ago. In the Floyd case riots broke out in many cities and lasted many months causing property damage, injuries and deaths. In the King case not much happened until the trial when the officers were found innocent. After that riots started in LA and when the dust settled 63 people lost their lives. The reaction to the Memphis situation is much more subdued and the question is why. Some have concluded that police brutality is not as salient as racism. The pretext for the earlier riots were based on the illegal and cruel treatment of victims by police but that has come into question. It appears that the real concern centers around racism. This also explains the lack of concern about urban crime and the fact that half of the murders in the country are mostly young Black men killing other young Black men. Once people realize this then steps can be taken to reduce this useless killing of young Black men or in many cases boys.