What happened to Tyre Nichols was not about race. It was about police brutality

After the events of the past few years, many municipalities heeded the call to hire more African American police officers to reflect and respond to the diverse needs of the community. African Americans believed that if we had more African American officers assigned to our communities, there would be less police brutality against us. Many police departments agreed with this sentiment and deployed African American officers to urban and diverse communities. In practice, this theory worked, until it didn’t. 

It didn’t work for Tyre Nichols — a 29-year-old, son, sibling, father, skateboarder, photographer and FedEx employee, who died Jan. 10 after a brutal attack by five African American police officers. 

It didn’t work for the city of Memphis. 

It didn’t work for the five police officers, and it didn’t work for America.