To See or Not See A Child of God: Why Tyre Nichols Died

Objectify (verb) 1. Degrade to the status of a mere object --Oxford Languages, languages.oup.com

First off, I must confess I’ve yet to have the courage or the heart to watch the 67-minute video the Memphis Police Department released last week. The body and security camera footage showed in graphic detail, the arrest and subsequent torture, and deadly use of force, against Tyre Nichols. Up until that traffic stop, Tyre was just a young man out on a beautiful night, an amateur photographer shooting pictures of the sky.  And then he went to drive home.

And then…oh my God, then!

The details of this horrific killing at the hands of five Memphis police officers are now public record.  How Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving, a claim refuted by video footage. How Tyre was ordered from the car, then pushed down on the ground, then pepper sprayed, then chased, then tasered, then pepper sprayed again, then beaten by so many fist blows and baton strikes to the face and the head and the body, and then leaned up against a car and, essentially, left to suffer, by five human beings.  While Nichols lay dying, waiting for medical workers to arrive (who took too long to treat him), the five officers spoke to each other as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. They good naturedly ribbed one another, complained about work, swapped stories, and acted as if it was just another night on the job.

They behaved as if it was some “thing” less than a human being, they’d encountered that evening. To them, I can only conclude, after reading transcripts of the video, Tyre was not a fellow child of God suffering, in need of their immediate help, no. To see the still images of them that night, how they behaved, it seemed they saw Tyre as somehow subhuman. I don’t how else to explain this horrific occurrence, and the oh so many other horrific occurrences of police brutality and acts of murder, on civilians, and so often upon young African American men. Tyre now takes his place with Trayvon, and George and Stephon and Philando and, and, and.  

How does a group of human beings act so callously towards another human being?

How do they go from being dads and fathers, coaches and co-workers, church members and sons in one setting, but then in another setting, they suddenly become brutes? How do people sworn to uphold the law and “protect and serve” the general public devolve so quickly into a chaotic and bloody mob? Cops have one of the toughest jobs in the world, of that I have no doubt. I do not envy their work. I am grateful for the many good cops and yet, this must said. There is nothing, there is nothing in any ethical or moral system that justifies or excuses how Tyre Nichols was treated the night of January 7^th.  How his injuries led to his death three days later.  How too many other young men have died in a similar way.

Where was any mercy, any compassion, any restraint, or any shred of humanity?

In some ways, what most disheartens and angers me about Tyre’s unnecessary and unjustified death and others like his, is how he was just an object to other humans.  Not a subject. Not a flesh and blood life, not a son and a community member and an artist. No. For when any of us as human beings decide to view another person as an object—because of their race or religion, their “otherness”--it can allow us to wrong that person, to hate that person, to hurt that person. 

After all, they are just an “It”, right?

The Jewish philosopher Martin Buber opined that humans relate to other humans in one of two ways, in one of two kinds of relationships.  “I”- “It” or “I”- “Thou”.  “I”- “It” denies the essential worth of the other person and sees them as an object.  “I”- “Thou” affirms that all humans beings are deserving of dignity, respect, honor and yes, love. So, relationships become sacred, even holy, when we see within another person what we share—our humanity. By knowing another as “Thou” we can even see the spark and light of God that resides in every single soul.

“I”- “It”. “I”- “Thou”.

That is the choice for all of us as children of God. Tyre was a beautiful child of God, and my faith promises me that he is with God now but there is no joy in this, none. You see he was supposed to live for many more years and take so many more pictures and know love and live to his fullest. Be a human being and a citizen and a neighbor, like me, like you.

Thou. Thou. Thou.

The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn, Massachusetts (pilgrimsherborn.org). He blogs at sherbornpastor.blogspot.com and is a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For twenty-five years he was a columnist whose essays appeared in newspapers throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He has served churches in New England since 1989. For comments, please be in touch: pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.