on PBS’ weekly Journalists’ Roundtable show Washington Week February 3, National Public Radio Weekend edition is on Sunday Host Ayesha Rascoe and NBC News reporter Ryan Nobles (formerly of CNN) discuss the brutal, deadly attack on Tyre Nichols, spanning from murder to exploring queer explanations for the attack on five black police officers, including “white supremacy.” Insecurity,” and even introducing a proposed Advanced Placement high school course in African-American history that was opposed by Florida’s Ron DeSantis administration as too ideological.
Host Yamiche Alcindor joined her guests in dismissing Republican concerns about federal law enforcement misconduct, while suggesting that Democrats are the only party with the moral authority to speak out on the issue.
ALCINDER: You speak of this kind of impasse. Ryan, Jim Jordan surprised me because he said that police misconduct is a form of government weaponization, which I had to do a double take. But he said in the same breath that he doesn’t think he can think of any legislation that would stop what happened to Tyree Nichols. So what are you hearing from Republicans, are they echoing Jim Jordan?
Ryan Nobles, NBC News: Define police misconduct, Yamiche. For a Republican like Jim Jordan, it would be the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago operation — raiding Mar-a-Lago to find improperly obtained classified documents. It would be Capitol Police officers roughing up protesters, as they are called, because they stormed the Capitol illegally. That’s part of the problem we have in Washington that Michael pointed out, people talking past each other. Even these things we think of as basic knowledge that we all agree on, a problem like police brutality or law enforcement, have different definitions for different Americans. And especially in the House of Representatives, those members are specifically speaking only to those constituencies…
An NPR host has become the latest public television personality to hilariously insist that the scene of black police officers beating a black man to death was actually an act “rooted in white supremacy.”
Aisha Roscoe: Well I mean we have to use the word, we have to talk about — Although these were black police officers, there is a concept of policing rooted in white supremacy. It’s something that people argue over and over again, and when you have a black body, they’re not, black people aren’t valued enough.. So if you’re in a position of authority, you might think you can get away with treating this person like they’re not human, versus the way you would treat someone white and innocent. And that’s just one fact. And if we’re going to deal with the problems of police brutality in this country, we really have to deal with it.
Next, NBC News’ Ryan Nobles, speaking like a parody of liberalism, suggested ways to prevent atrocities like Memphis, including… “funding food programs”?:
Nobles: And it’s not just funding for police reform, it’s talking about that Funding for Education This refers to funding food programs to alleviate issues such as food insecurity and poverty. These are all part of systemic problems This leads to the situation we saw in Memphis where lawmakers simply don’t want to have a serious conversation.
Alcindor: We only have ten seconds left, and even as Ryan talks about education, we think about the fact that AP African-American Studies is being watered downSo it’s a tough place to be.
Roscoe: It’s a tough place to be. And I think Ryan was right, we were talking past each other. And even when it comes to what our history is and what we want to learn, we are not speaking the same language.
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Click “Expand” to read a transcript below:
PBS Washington Week
February 3, 2023
8:22:30 pm Eastern
Yamiche Alcinder: You are talking about this kind of deadlock. Ryan, Jim Jordan surprised me because he said that police misconduct is a form of government weaponization, which I had to do a double take. But he said in the same breath that he doesn’t think he can think of any legislation that would stop what happened to Tyree Nichols. So what are you hearing from Republicans, are they echoing Jim Jordan?
Ryan Nobles, NBC News: Define police misconduct, Yamiche. For a Republican like Jim Jordan, it would be the FBI’s Operation Mar-a-Lago — raiding Mar-a-Lago to find improperly taken classified documents. It would be Capitol Police officers roughing up protesters, as they are called, because they stormed the Capitol illegally. That’s part of the problem we have in Washington that Michael pointed out, people talking past each other. Even these things we think of as basic knowledge that we all agree on, a problem like police brutality or law enforcement, have different definitions for different Americans. And especially in the House of Representatives, those members are specifically speaking only to those constituencies….
….
ALCINDOR: And Aisha, I want to come back to the idea that I’m talking about, can you legislate the heart and the mind? Of course people, even civil-rights leaders, are saying that we need to make new laws, but there’s this lack of humanity when people are watching, what they’re seeing, what they’re seeing, frankly, is the way that Tyree Nichols is being beaten, especially when he’s calling for his mother and the same. Like when George Floyd called his mother.
Ayesha Roscoe, host of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday”: Well I mean we have to use the term, we have to talk — even though these were black police officers, there’s an idea of policing that’s rooted in white supremacy. . . It’s something that people argue over and over again and when you have a black body, they don’t, black people aren’t valued enough. So if you’re in a position of authority, you might think you can get away with treating this person like they’re not human, versus the way you would treat someone white and innocent. And that’s just one fact. And if we’re going to deal with the problems of police brutality in this country, we really have to deal with it.
RYAN NOBLES, NBC NEWS: And it’s not just about funding for police reform, it’s about funding for education, it’s about funding for food programs to alleviate things like food insecurity and poverty. It’s all part of the systemic problem that leads to the situation we saw in Memphis where lawmakers simply don’t want to have a serious conversation.
Alcindor: We only have ten seconds left, and even as Ryan talks about education, we think about the fact that AP African-American studies is being watered down, so that’s a tough place to be.
Roscoe: It’s a tough place to be. And I think Ryan was right, we were talking past each other. And even when it comes to what our history is and what we want to learn, we are not speaking the same language.