Radley Balko: Tyre Nichols wasn't murdered because of "affirmative action"

[Nevilledog]

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/tyre-nichols-wasnt-murdered-because


An ugly narrative about Tyre Nichols is taking hold on the right.

Here Tucker Carlson, who hosts the most-watched cable news program in the country, lays it out:

The race riots of 2020 were never about George Floyd, obviously. That's why there are no statues of him in American cities. They were about changing the country forever. The first step, of course, was defunding police departments across the country and forcing them to lower their standards to attract unqualified applicants: hiring officers based on skin color, rather than integrity or skill or self control, all in the name of equity.

Does that result in better policing? Well what happened in Memphis a few weeks ago is one indicator. At least two of the five officers that apparently beat Tyre Nichols to death were hired under lax diversity-driven standards. They were affirmative action hires.

These claims have been all over Twitter and the right-wing internet for the last several days. It’s been driven largely by a New York Post article, a LinkedIn post by an obscure police officer in Oklahoma, and a tweet by the former president’s large adult son #1.

Before we get to the affirmative action stuff, let’s quickly dispense with the de-funding nonsense: Memphis did not de-fund its police department. Since the George Floyd protests city has increased funding for policing, and given its officers raises. The city now spends nearly 40 percent of its budget on policing, which puts it among the most police-friendly budgets in the country for a city its size. Police funding is not an issue in Memphis.

On to the ugly stuff. There are two main contentions, here. The first is that the officers who killed Tyre Nichols were only hired because they’re black — or more specifically, because the city lowered its hiring standards in an effort to attract more minority police officers. The second contention is that Memphis police chief C.J. Davis was unqualified for that job, and was only hired because she’s a black woman.

*snip*

[EarlG]

1. To the right, the only good cop is a white cop (and all white cops are good)

The left: Cops who murder citizens in cold blood are bad.

The right: How dare you say that cops are bad! Wait, these cops are black? Okay we agree they're bad.