News with Nuance: Feb. 3, 2023

Your Friday dose of News with Nuance: the week's biggest stories, unpacked + more ..

One of the most powerful things that journalism can do is turn your preconceived notions upside down. In a world where we’re constantly taking shortcuts to judge and categorize one another, and make snap judgments about complex topics, journalists and reporters enter in to make us question our assumptions. When we do so, through the power of story, we can open our hearts to seeing one another’s humanity - and we can begin to work together for justice, peace, and love.

All of the stories featured below have this characteristic, of turning your preconceived notions upside down — but as they do this work and you read these stories, they’ll leave you feeling diametrically opposed emotions. One piece will leave you sad but hopeful, with a renewed sense that our shared humanity might lead to greater understanding. Other pieces will leave you disgusted and even angry, as well as feeling duped. All this work is vitally important. So let’s get to the News — with nuance.

The Headline: Column: Before Tyre Nichols was a martyr, he was a Sacramento kid who didn’t ‘see color’

I haven’t yet written in this newsletter about the tragic death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of the Memphis police, but his death and his story have weighed heavily on me for several days now. I wonder how many of us have walked around this week with the injustice and the tragedy and also the unceasing deja vu of the deaths of Black Americans killed by police heavy on our backs, weighing us down.

Even as I write these words I want to take pains to say that the grief and pain I feel does not match the grief and pain of Black mothers and mothers of Black children. As a white American, there are parts of this story I will never fully grasp or understand, which is why in these moments I want to amplify the voices of Black journalists. Still - it is also on me in these moments to use my privilege and my voice to lament the ongoing racism, hatred, and violence inherent in so many of America’s very social structures, and at the same time call for white Americans to work for racial justice.

The story of Tyre Nichols’ death differs in some ways from other highly publicized police killings of Black men, in that the officers who have been arrested were all Black as well. It’s important at this time, then, for all of us to put away the lie that racism is about racist individuals - and instead acknowledge that racism is unfortunately baked into the systems and structures of American society itself. Only by working to dismantle systemic racism (and yes, this does involve understanding critical race theory at some level) - will we truly be able to confront the scourge of racism that continues to haunt and torment our country.

I know I’ve shared stories here before from L.A. Times writer Erika D. Smith, and I’m sharing her piece again below in the midst of a lot of powerful writing about Tyre Nichols. I’ve especially been drawn to writing that focuses on Tyre Nichols’ life rather than his death or the officers who killed him. I haven’t watched the video of Nichols’ death, but I did watch the video of him skateboarding, free, and alive. I’m sure that’s the video Tyre Nichols’ mom wants America to remember her son by.

This piece from Smith is so important below because it forces us to deepen our understanding of Tyre Nichols’ story, and see him for the full and complex human being he was. When we delve into the complexity of humanity, we’re forced away from excusing violence and hatred toward our fellow human beings. We’re forced to understand that, at its best and at its core, Black Lives Matter is about that: honoring and protecting the lives of Black Americans, rather than some leftist political movement.

Tyre Nichols’ life mattered. Thanks to Erika D. Smith for telling such such an important part of his life story.

Photo by Paul Kitagaki Jr., Sacramento Bee

The Quote: “I try to imagine the bewilderment and then the terror of Nichols, a Black man who saw people as human beings first, when he got pulled over by five cops for what should’ve been a minor traffic stop, their guns drawn and yelling conflicting orders at him as if he were an animal.”

Story by Erika D. Smith, Los Angeles Times

The Headlines: How an L.A. grifter ripped off his best friends and got rich with his sprawling weed scams, An alleged $500 million Ponzi scheme preyed on Mormons. It ended with FBI gunfire, Tom Girardi, disgraced L.A. lawyer and ‘Real Housewives’ spouse, indicted on fraud charges

And now for the disgust.