If you’re on social media, there’s only one question I want you to ask yourself before you post your hot take on the Memphis Police beating. Is your little missive helpful? Or hurtful? And I’d also like to remind you that the world will keep spinning if you don’t tweet about it. The video is out for the world to see. Tyre Nichols is dead. It is a horrible situation. Now is the time to seriously contemplate how we can make sure things like this never happen again. So, take a deep breath and think. You honestly don’t need to inform the world about how your second cousin was a cop and one time they blah, blah, blah. You can tweet that story later on. Right now? We need to make sure the system is working. The court system. Due process. It’s not an easy thing to do. But if we don’t? We’re all fucked. We need systems that work.

As horrific as the video is, we need police. We also need to know those same police on the side of the law. That’s what it boils down to. Right now, I have way too many questions to even begin to formulate a ‘hot take’. I’m interested in solutions. That’s it. Maintaining a society based on the rule of law and ensuring the law is applied equally and fairly. Pretty certain a smarmy tweet won’t get us there any faster.