January 10, 2025 • 15 mins
On the year anniversary of his passing, Ramses Ja and Q Ward take a look back at the death of Tyre Nichols.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast, and I'm
your host, Ramsey's Jaw. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover everything that comes our way. But from time
to time, a story just stays with me and Bill
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing. You know, on this show,
(00:26):
we we got some years in now and we have
been able to cover a lot of important events, national events,
and right now we're knocking on the two year anniversary
of the death of Tyree Nichols. And I remember qu
(00:51):
actually had a chance to talk to his friend that
he used to skate with on the show. I remember
that he was It was a good interview and he
shared a lot about Tyree and provided a lot of humanity,
brought brought Tyree Nichols to life for us and made
(01:13):
him live beyond just the headlines we were reading at
the time. But being in this position and been able
to cover these things, you get a chance to see
stories evolve, you know, and with time, things gel and
they settle, and they become almost like legends. And you know,
(01:38):
people can lose sight of the fact that These were
actual people that had a lot of promise, a lot
of potential. These were stories that were going in whatever
direction they were going in, and now they're you know,
talking points that we share over conversations and their hashtags
that we invoke, you know, a few times a year
(01:59):
when it's necessary. But for this anniversary, we thought we would,
you know, we're going to share an article, but just
kind of reflect a little bit. Just feels like the
right thing to do, so I will not hold you.
This is from ABC twenty four Remembering Tyree Nichols, A
(02:21):
gathering of love and resilience two years after his death.
A gathering in Hickory Hill marked the two year anniversary
of Tyree Nichols's tragic beating and untimely death, uniting his family, friends,
and community members. This is in Memphis, Tennessee. When the
community marched with the group to the location where Tyrie
Nichols was brutally beaten, the atmosphere was filled with love
(02:43):
for him and hopes for a change in the city
of Memphis. Politicians, friends, family, and members of the community
gathered in Hickory Hill to remember Nichols two years after
his death. Or family that's still struggling to come to
terms with the brutal death of Nichols. The journey has
been incredibly difficult. My first year was very difficult, and
I thought that was the worst, said Ravn Wells, Nichols's mother.
(03:06):
She goes on to say, but I've come to know
that the second year was the hardest. Attorney Ben Crump
added that their journey took them to the federal courthouse
and to Washington, d c. Where they testified at the
United States Congress. As they honored Nichols on Tuesday, they
wanted him to be remembered not just for how he died,
but for how he lived. The gathering included politicians, activists,
(03:28):
family and friends. Quote, this is a moment to recommit
ourselves to the calls which we know and care deeply about,
which is that black folks deserve the right to live
without fear of tyranny from government. State Representative Justin J.
Pearson said, Nichols's mother will continue to miss her son.
Of course she will. What made it so difficult is
(03:55):
the realization that I will never see my son again.
Rovan said, I will never physically tell which my son.
I won't be able to hug my son or receive
a text from him. I won't get a happy Mother's
Day or anything. Rodney Wells, Tyree's father, shared his thoughts
as well. Quote, we're getting stronger, but we're not there yet.
Well said, I don't know when we're going to get there,
(04:17):
but we keeped striving every day to get there. As
the sun began to set over Hickory Hill, the gathering
came to a close. The outpouring of love and remembrance
for Tyrie Nichols echoed in the hearts of everyone who attended.
The tears and laughter shared Tuesday served as a reminder
that while the journey remains difficult to fight for love,
respect and justice will continue for this family all right.
(04:38):
So for folks that may not remember, Tyriy Nichols was
the gentleman that was pulled over, may have been a
block or two from his mom's house, and black police
officers took turns beating him in the street until he died.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
They did no crime, and according to two of those officers,
posed no threat. Yes, that's important, right. They always want
to cast themselves as in danger after they kill us.
Two of those officers are on record saying he posed
no threat and for a lot of that beating laid helpless.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
So for again, for those who don't remember, that's that's
this story. And you know this one. This one stood
out to me because I remember this about him, that
he was really in a skateboarding He spent half of
his time in the Bay Area in California, and he
(05:47):
had friends out there and he would skateboard with And
I am a retired aspiring skater myself, and there's there's
something special, there's something there's there's some additional connective tissue
among like black skater types. And I never met Tyree Nichols,
(06:10):
but he would have been one of those people from
my tribe. And this story is not more, it's not better.
(06:30):
Like his mom said, I have not lost a child,
God willing, I never will have to live in that reality.
But I couldn't imagine. You know, I've lost, you know,
people close to me, but never had this sort of
(06:54):
thing happened from people that in theory, you're supposed to
trust and then they take someone from you because they
are abusing their power. This story was confusing to me
because all the officers were black, not one of them
(07:19):
in the background, all of them and you know you
share a story. We share this story, but you share
a part of the story where one time you and
I got pulled over and we got taken out of
the car and we found out that the police officers
(07:40):
were black, and you say, oh that you know, that
made me feel better when I saw that both officers
were black, because at least I knew I wasn't going
to die, not that we were going to be okay,
because they're still police, and that's that badge warps your identity.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
At least I felt like we weren't going to die.
There's no way to know in the on the dark
highway in Mississippi at three o'clock in the morning, that
these troopers are not going to harm us. But I
felt less like had I gotten out of that car
and saw two white officers terrified, I would have been
(08:21):
more terrified, so afraid of what was going to happen next,
because it had already been escalated. We're already being asked
to get out of the car. We already haven't you
know what I mean, We already haven't done anything. We've
already done nothing to even be pulled over. So now
that it's already gotten to can you get out of
the car? I don't want to rehash that story because.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That was that was.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It was a tough night for us and for people
that care about us.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
That was, that was an intense one. But you know,
I think that your point is well made that at
least when you see someone black, it almost gives you
license to be a little bit more optimistic in terms
of what the prospects or the outcome might be.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Well, I think a distinction that you've made played out
for us in real life with those two officers. Can
you explain the differences between the two of them to
listeners who haven't heard that story, I absolutely can.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, And this is part of why this Tyree Nichols
story was troubling. Another reason why it was troubling for me. Okay,
you know for our story that the one that Q
asked me to reference when we got out of the car, Well,
(09:47):
first they pulled Q out of the car. First, We've
done nothing, nothing wrong. Of course, pulled Q out of
the car, so that's scary. And then the officer comes
to the passenger side and asked me to step out
of the car, and I'm like, all right, here we go,
and I get out, and I see the officer and
(10:13):
he is one police officer. He is in police mode.
He is police officer first, everything else second. That's why
he snatching me out of the car. That's why he's
being aggressive, that's why he's being intimidating and all this stuff. Man,
I haven't done nothing to that post on. I'm extra
super duper humble and meek in this moment, just so
(10:33):
you don't have a reason to get fidgety or get afraid.
But he was super turned up on his police mode.
And then he walked me back to the to the
to their police suv or there was a couple of
cars there, but the closest car was a suv. Then
I got a chance to see the other police officer.
(10:56):
Both of these officers are black. But whereas the officer
to pull me out of a car was an officer first,
the second officer I met was a man. First. He
was acting like a human being, all of the empathy
necessary to interact with another human being, the empathy that
(11:19):
you would naturally invoke when you are not a threat.
And yet you recognize that someone feels afraid and they're
curious as to why they have to get out of
the car, and why you just took his friend out
of a car. And we've never done a drug in
our lives, either of us. We've never drank alcohol in
our lives either of us. We haven't broken any laws.
And we are pulled over on the side of the
(11:39):
road in the darkest night I've ever seen in my life,
in the middle of nowhere, in Mississippi, where we don't live.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
While everything is going on, while every all the unrest
outside is happening in real time. This is the summer
that we lost your Floyd. This was not years later,
this as as our country was engulfed in police brutal
(12:10):
brutality and the loss of black life with impunity. As
Ramsay said, the darkest night I have ever experienced, covered
in trees on a highway in Mississippi at three o'clock
in them nowhere, in the middle of nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So there's there's definitely a distinction between officer first and
man first, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And in far too many cases, no matter the color
of the officer's skin, they show up as officer.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
And that's what we saw with Tyler.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
The story was so disheartening when again, not just a
single black cop was present. Every officer that willfully participated
in the murder of this young man was black. Prayers
to Sacramento as well the Bay area, not just Memphis,
but the Bay area. Sacramento specifically had a vigil over
(13:13):
the last couple of days. On the last few days
honoring Tyree. And it's an interesting time to be in
a space where you're trying to keep the memory of
someone alive in a place that's so committed to erasing us.
You realize, I think somebody said in one of the stories,
if they just simply stopped coming every year to honor him,
(13:36):
he just fades into nothingness from everybody except for his
family probably, And it says something that it's not even
a fight for progress anymore. They're not gathering hoping to
change anything because you kind of surrender to the idea
that you can't. It's just to make sure that he
(13:58):
doesn't get forgotten. And that is so incredibly heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Well, I will say this, I remember this story. I
remember you, Tyree. You're a You're a skater. Man might
(14:26):
have been a little too old to skate with you,
but I would have got you. You deserve more than
just to be remembered, and I'm down right now, but
I'm not out. We were gonna make it better. I
gotta figure out how that's gonna look. But we're gonna
make it better. And for those of you listening to
my voice, you're gonna help me do it. If you
(14:52):
got any ideas, of course, you can use the red
microphone talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app. It's in
it my way. You can find me on all social
media at Ramsy's Jah.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I am q Ward on our social media as well.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And let's talk about it. And until we do, y'all peace.
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribing. Download all of our episodes. I'm your host
ramses Jah on all social media. Join us tomorrow as
(15:23):
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast, and I'm
your host, Ramsey's Jaw. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover everything that comes our way. But from time
to time, a story just stays with me and Bill
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing. You know, on this show,
(00:26):
we we got some years in now and we have
been able to cover a lot of important events, national events,
and right now we're knocking on the two year anniversary
of the death of Tyree Nichols. And I remember qu
(00:51):
actually had a chance to talk to his friend that
he used to skate with on the show. I remember
that he was It was a good interview and he
shared a lot about Tyree and provided a lot of humanity,
brought brought Tyree Nichols to life for us and made
(01:13):
him live beyond just the headlines we were reading at
the time. But being in this position and been able
to cover these things, you get a chance to see
stories evolve, you know, and with time, things gel and
they settle, and they become almost like legends. And you know,
(01:38):
people can lose sight of the fact that These were
actual people that had a lot of promise, a lot
of potential. These were stories that were going in whatever
direction they were going in, and now they're you know,
talking points that we share over conversations and their hashtags
that we invoke, you know, a few times a year
(01:59):
when it's necessary. But for this anniversary, we thought we would,
you know, we're going to share an article, but just
kind of reflect a little bit. Just feels like the
right thing to do, so I will not hold you.
This is from ABC twenty four Remembering Tyree Nichols, A
(02:21):
gathering of love and resilience two years after his death.
A gathering in Hickory Hill marked the two year anniversary
of Tyree Nichols's tragic beating and untimely death, uniting his family, friends,
and community members. This is in Memphis, Tennessee. When the
community marched with the group to the location where Tyrie
Nichols was brutally beaten, the atmosphere was filled with love
(02:43):
for him and hopes for a change in the city
of Memphis. Politicians, friends, family, and members of the community
gathered in Hickory Hill to remember Nichols two years after
his death. Or family that's still struggling to come to
terms with the brutal death of Nichols. The journey has
been incredibly difficult. My first year was very difficult, and
I thought that was the worst, said Ravn Wells, Nichols's mother.
(03:06):
She goes on to say, but I've come to know
that the second year was the hardest. Attorney Ben Crump
added that their journey took them to the federal courthouse
and to Washington, d c. Where they testified at the
United States Congress. As they honored Nichols on Tuesday, they
wanted him to be remembered not just for how he died,
but for how he lived. The gathering included politicians, activists,
(03:28):
family and friends. Quote, this is a moment to recommit
ourselves to the calls which we know and care deeply about,
which is that black folks deserve the right to live
without fear of tyranny from government. State Representative Justin J.
Pearson said, Nichols's mother will continue to miss her son.
Of course she will. What made it so difficult is
(03:55):
the realization that I will never see my son again.
Rovan said, I will never physically tell which my son.
I won't be able to hug my son or receive
a text from him. I won't get a happy Mother's
Day or anything. Rodney Wells, Tyree's father, shared his thoughts
as well. Quote, we're getting stronger, but we're not there yet.
Well said, I don't know when we're going to get there,
(04:17):
but we keeped striving every day to get there. As
the sun began to set over Hickory Hill, the gathering
came to a close. The outpouring of love and remembrance
for Tyrie Nichols echoed in the hearts of everyone who attended.
The tears and laughter shared Tuesday served as a reminder
that while the journey remains difficult to fight for love,
respect and justice will continue for this family all right.
(04:38):
So for folks that may not remember, Tyriy Nichols was
the gentleman that was pulled over, may have been a
block or two from his mom's house, and black police
officers took turns beating him in the street until he died.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
They did no crime, and according to two of those officers,
posed no threat. Yes, that's important, right. They always want
to cast themselves as in danger after they kill us.
Two of those officers are on record saying he posed
no threat and for a lot of that beating laid helpless.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
So for again, for those who don't remember, that's that's
this story. And you know this one. This one stood
out to me because I remember this about him, that
he was really in a skateboarding He spent half of
his time in the Bay Area in California, and he
(05:47):
had friends out there and he would skateboard with And
I am a retired aspiring skater myself, and there's there's
something special, there's something there's there's some additional connective tissue
among like black skater types. And I never met Tyree Nichols,
(06:10):
but he would have been one of those people from
my tribe. And this story is not more, it's not better.
(06:30):
Like his mom said, I have not lost a child,
God willing, I never will have to live in that reality.
But I couldn't imagine. You know, I've lost, you know,
people close to me, but never had this sort of
(06:54):
thing happened from people that in theory, you're supposed to
trust and then they take someone from you because they
are abusing their power. This story was confusing to me
because all the officers were black, not one of them
(07:19):
in the background, all of them and you know you
share a story. We share this story, but you share
a part of the story where one time you and
I got pulled over and we got taken out of
the car and we found out that the police officers
(07:40):
were black, and you say, oh that you know, that
made me feel better when I saw that both officers
were black, because at least I knew I wasn't going
to die, not that we were going to be okay,
because they're still police, and that's that badge warps your identity.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
At least I felt like we weren't going to die.
There's no way to know in the on the dark
highway in Mississippi at three o'clock in the morning, that
these troopers are not going to harm us. But I
felt less like had I gotten out of that car
and saw two white officers terrified, I would have been
(08:21):
more terrified, so afraid of what was going to happen next,
because it had already been escalated. We're already being asked
to get out of the car. We already haven't you
know what I mean, We already haven't done anything. We've
already done nothing to even be pulled over. So now
that it's already gotten to can you get out of
the car? I don't want to rehash that story because.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That was that was.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It was a tough night for us and for people
that care about us.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
That was, that was an intense one. But you know,
I think that your point is well made that at
least when you see someone black, it almost gives you
license to be a little bit more optimistic in terms
of what the prospects or the outcome might be.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Well, I think a distinction that you've made played out
for us in real life with those two officers. Can
you explain the differences between the two of them to
listeners who haven't heard that story, I absolutely can.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, And this is part of why this Tyree Nichols
story was troubling. Another reason why it was troubling for me. Okay,
you know for our story that the one that Q
asked me to reference when we got out of the car, Well,
(09:47):
first they pulled Q out of the car. First, We've
done nothing, nothing wrong. Of course, pulled Q out of
the car, so that's scary. And then the officer comes
to the passenger side and asked me to step out
of the car, and I'm like, all right, here we go,
and I get out, and I see the officer and
(10:13):
he is one police officer. He is in police mode.
He is police officer first, everything else second. That's why
he snatching me out of the car. That's why he's
being aggressive, that's why he's being intimidating and all this stuff. Man,
I haven't done nothing to that post on. I'm extra
super duper humble and meek in this moment, just so
(10:33):
you don't have a reason to get fidgety or get afraid.
But he was super turned up on his police mode.
And then he walked me back to the to the
to their police suv or there was a couple of
cars there, but the closest car was a suv. Then
I got a chance to see the other police officer.
(10:56):
Both of these officers are black. But whereas the officer
to pull me out of a car was an officer first,
the second officer I met was a man. First. He
was acting like a human being, all of the empathy
necessary to interact with another human being, the empathy that
(11:19):
you would naturally invoke when you are not a threat.
And yet you recognize that someone feels afraid and they're
curious as to why they have to get out of
the car, and why you just took his friend out
of a car. And we've never done a drug in
our lives, either of us. We've never drank alcohol in
our lives either of us. We haven't broken any laws.
And we are pulled over on the side of the
(11:39):
road in the darkest night I've ever seen in my life,
in the middle of nowhere, in Mississippi, where we don't live.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
While everything is going on, while every all the unrest
outside is happening in real time. This is the summer
that we lost your Floyd. This was not years later,
this as as our country was engulfed in police brutal
(12:10):
brutality and the loss of black life with impunity. As
Ramsay said, the darkest night I have ever experienced, covered
in trees on a highway in Mississippi at three o'clock
in them nowhere, in the middle of nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So there's there's definitely a distinction between officer first and
man first, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
And in far too many cases, no matter the color
of the officer's skin, they show up as officer.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
And that's what we saw with Tyler.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
The story was so disheartening when again, not just a
single black cop was present. Every officer that willfully participated
in the murder of this young man was black. Prayers
to Sacramento as well the Bay area, not just Memphis,
but the Bay area. Sacramento specifically had a vigil over
(13:13):
the last couple of days. On the last few days
honoring Tyree. And it's an interesting time to be in
a space where you're trying to keep the memory of
someone alive in a place that's so committed to erasing us.
You realize, I think somebody said in one of the stories,
if they just simply stopped coming every year to honor him,
(13:36):
he just fades into nothingness from everybody except for his
family probably, And it says something that it's not even
a fight for progress anymore. They're not gathering hoping to
change anything because you kind of surrender to the idea
that you can't. It's just to make sure that he
(13:58):
doesn't get forgotten. And that is so incredibly heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Well, I will say this, I remember this story. I
remember you, Tyree. You're a You're a skater. Man might
(14:26):
have been a little too old to skate with you,
but I would have got you. You deserve more than
just to be remembered, and I'm down right now, but
I'm not out. We were gonna make it better. I
gotta figure out how that's gonna look. But we're gonna
make it better. And for those of you listening to
my voice, you're gonna help me do it. If you
(14:52):
got any ideas, of course, you can use the red
microphone talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app. It's in
it my way. You can find me on all social
media at Ramsy's Jah.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I am q Ward on our social media as well.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And let's talk about it. And until we do, y'all peace.
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribing. Download all of our episodes. I'm your host
ramses Jah on all social media. Join us tomorrow as
(15:23):
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
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