History On Repeat: The Killing Of Tyre Nichols
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 30 January 2023
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The release of brutal footage of the killing of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols by police officers in Memphis furthers an all-too-familiar conversation about accountability and police violence.
The Black community in Memphis and nationwide is processing the details of Tyre Nichols’ killing at the hands of law enforcement - from the race of the police officers to the footage of the beating and why this is a persistent problem in America. To help unpack the story, host Kai Wright speaks with Karanja Ajanaku, Executive Editor of The New Tri-State Defender, a news organization that serves the greater Memphis African-American community. They discuss how a traffic stop turned deadly for Nichols, and how officers’ egregious use of force and media coverage of the incident is shaping civic life in Memphis.
Companion listening for this episode:
Crime, Panic and The Case Of The Exonerated Five (12/5/2022)
It’s been twenty years since five men who were convicted as kids in the “Central Park jogger case” were exonerated. Their story has resonance in today’s crime-panicked United States.
“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.
We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter @noteswithkai or email us at [email protected].
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I feel like so many other black people feel, I feel vulnerable, I feel susceptible, I feel |
| 0:08.4 | more in danger with every killing, you know, the night I've felt, I mean, I really feel |
| 0:15.0 | it. |
| 0:16.0 | You know, many people have to have what we now know as the conversation with their children |
| 0:21.3 | in order to make sure they come home. |
| 0:23.4 | So it's central to our experiences in this country. |
| 0:27.2 | It's not very phenomenon of needing it to be as good chance as possible, as violent |
| 0:32.6 | as possible to care about black life, it's something I think I'm aware of and understand. |
| 0:37.8 | But it started with police violence in the sense of catching former slaves, the policing |
| 0:43.4 | of black bodies. |
| 0:44.8 | So there's been this ongoing infatuation with black death. |
| 0:47.7 | We have to find a new way in which to find justice for black people who are killed. |
| 0:57.2 | It's notes from America, I'm Kai Wright. |
| 1:10.3 | Welcome to the show and a special welcome to everybody in the Lexington Kentucky area, |
| 1:15.6 | which is joining us for the first time this week, glad to have you all in the community. |
| 1:20.7 | This week we are processing a crushingly familiar story in Memphis, Tennessee. |
| 1:27.1 | Officers from a special anti crime unit of the Memphis Police Department stopped 29-year-old |
| 1:32.3 | Tyree Nichols on January 7th. |
| 1:35.0 | It's still unclear on what grounds he was stopped in the first place. |
| 1:39.4 | The officers threw him to the ground and may have even tased him as he asked why he was |
| 1:43.7 | being stopped. |
| 1:44.7 | And when he broke free and ran, a group of officers chased him down and brutally beat |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.