On January 7, five police officers pulled over Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, for reckless driving. Bodycams showed that the police then beat him to the ground and physically assaulted him. Police reports claim that Nichols was behaving “violently” and tried to resist officers. However, video evidence published by the New York Times shows that Nichols did not try to hit any of the officers. An ambulance arrived between 15 to 20 minutes after the officers stopped assaulting Nichols. He died three days later in the hospital.
This incident follows many other instances of police brutality across the country in recent years. Black members of the Deerfield community expressed their thoughts on Tyre Nichols’ death and how to help prepare Black students for any possible incidents on or off campus.
Faculty Advisor for the Deerfield Black Student Alliance (DBSA) James Perry expressed that his initial reaction to Nichols’ death was fear that this could happen to him too. He added, “More importantly, as a father, could that happen to one of my sons? As a teacher of young Black men, could that happen to one of my students?” He concluded, “The answer is obviously ‘yes,’ given not only this incident but also all of the many other instances that have happened over the past five or six years.”
Chelsea Davis ’23, a DBSA member, shared that she had seen a post on social media questioning how the incident could have been racially biased since the police officers were also Black. Comments on the post discussed the inherently racist nature of America’s policing system. Davis agreed, saying, “The training the cops went through to choose who to arrest or why to arrest them, and the training that they go through on how to handle that person, is all very racist.”
Another member of the DBSA, Jesse Gachago ’26, said in response to Nichols’ death, “Violence like that is never necessary, especially whenever you’re getting pulled over by policemen for reckless driving.”
Mr. Perry echoed Gachago’s sentiments, saying, “[The officers] used way more force than was necessary to accomplish the task.” He continued, “The task was to subdue him, and once he was down on the ground, the kicking to the face, repeatedly hitting with the baton, and tasing, by definition, was excessive.”
In terms of the response on campus to news of this event, DBSA Treasurer Ephraim Tony Tutu ’24 said, “[Deerfield’s] atmosphere is relatively equal and safe, so because of that, I think Black men [at Deerfield] have a misconception that maybe this is how the world works, and when you have that misconception, a simple stop, like what happened to Tyre, could lead to something else.”
Mr. Perry explained the importance of understanding racism, saying, “As a person of color, you may be stopped by the police, and opinions may be formed about you solely because of your race.” He stressed that necessity to talk about how Black students should respond to a variety of situations, such as driving, walking around, even “if it’s somehow in a classroom situation where you feel that race has become an inappropriate or misrepresented factor, in the discussion.”
Regarding how Deerfield’s campus should respond, Gachago said, “One thing I suggest is advocate for people of color, [and] be more aware of situations that are going on like this.” He suggested that having conversations about these situations will “help us not make the same mistakes [as] in the past.”