Tyre Nichols loved photographing sunsets. We share this photo in his memory.

Tyre Nichols, Our Ancestor

By Kevin Hofmann
Director of the Office of Racial Equity and Cultural Inclusion

I didn’t plan on writing a blog this week. I was going to begin Black History Month focusing on Black history, but the Black present seems to be competing with the history to see which can be more traumatic. Last week the present was the clear winner… well, loser.

I haven’t watched the videos yet. It’s part of the process. I must charge myself up to watch it. I must take several days or weeks to prepare myself. I listen to – not watch – the news because I don’t want to be assaulted with the video when I’m not ready. I slowly page through social media keeping one eye out for videos of the beating. If I see something I accelerate past it. I’m not ready yet.

I concentrate on the positive stories (if that is possible after such a brutal tragedy). I like to hear what kind of person they were, what they liked to do, and the food they enjoyed. I listen to family members refer to them in the past tense and I wonder how they did it. How did they come to terms with their loved one that was so recently present but now past?

Through the consistent tragedy of Black lives meeting an early unjustified death, I have come to understand that ancestry has nothing to do with age. I always thought of my ancestors as older folks that are no longer here. I picture white-haired Frederick Douglass or frail little Miss Jane Pittman. Ancestors should never be younger than me. Yet, we keep adding to our ancestors from the same fountain. The fountain that convinces some that the color of our skin makes us a threat and blinds them to the threat that they have become.

The list goes on and on it seems. Emmett Till, Jordan Davis, Michael Brown, John Crawford III, George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Oscar Grant III, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner, Renisha McBride, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, and now Tyre Nichols.

I can see each of their faces just like Frederick Douglass or Miss Jane Pittman. They were killed for a number of reasons:

• Talking to a white woman

• Playing music too loud

• Shoplifting

• Buying a toy

• Passing a fake $20 bill

• Traffic violation

• Being young

• Playing in the park

• Carrying a licensed firearm

• Selling CDs

• Selling cigarettes

• Asking for directions

• Walking in a neighborhood

• Jogging in a neighborhood

• Traffic violation

No matter how I look at them, none of these “offenses” warrant the death penalty. There was a better way to resolve every one of these situations. 

I’m tired of adding to the list. What can we do to stop the growth of this list?