SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2023
by George Held
For Rodney King
Screen shot by George Held. 1/29/23. 3 am. Tyre Nichols killing by police.
After Memphis, what more can we ask video
to do? After Tyre Nichols, what more
can it confirm? About barbarity,
good ol’ American barbarity?
The Nazis had nothing on us when it
comes to barbarity. Just look at
the video and see those black men in
uniform dishing out murderous mayhem,
killing Tyre as surely as pink-cheeked
SS troopers brutally murdered an old Slav
or a Jew. Yes, these assassins, blond or black,
and legitimized by uniform, carry out
the will of the culture, brutalize the despised
while we, mute, wait to watch the video.
George Held occasionally contributes to The NVN and has poems now in Ultimate Reality and Jerry Jazz Magazine. He also is a contributor to Blogfinger.net.in Ocean Grove, NJ
Thank you George. Not enough people speak out to condemn the dangers on our streets, and if law enforcement has committed unlawful acts, then they must be brought to justice also.
Of course we can’t compare the barbarism currently running amok on the streets of our cities with the murderous policies of the Nazis and the Japanese and others during WWII when many millions of innocent humans were killed due to racial policies promulgated by the governments of sovereign nations. Our government and military saved many lives by its willingness to fight those evils.
It is fascinating how the prevalence of video cameras has allowed us to actually watch murders or physical abuse by not only criminals, but also sometimes by law enforcement. But the latter are relatively rare.
So often those events involving police are self defense or necessary to control dangerous situations on the streets in order to save innocent lives, and so the videos can also show that.
It is important that our society apprehend and punish the guilty but also we must mete out justice fairly. Law enforcement must have the tools, the laws, and the training along with the support necessary for them to do a dangerous job.
When I saw the Eric Garner video on the news I said to Eileen, “That man was murdered by the police.”
But I did not say anything publicly. On Blogfinger we usually avoid politics, but sometimes we should speak out. The Tyre Nichols video confirmed that vicious murder by police. And the video will help sort out the guilty.
It’s too bad we didn’t have videos during WWII. Many murderers were never brought to justice because of lack of evidence and other reasons.