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To RowVaughn Wells, justice comes in pieces. In January 2023, Memphis police fatally beat her son, 29-year-old Tyre Nichols. This October, a court found three officers guilty of witness tampering - but not of killing him.
“I still can’t believe … that they all have been convicted,” Wells said. “To our family, that felt like a piece of justice for us, because a lot of families don’t even get that. So we’ll keep getting a piece of justice here, a piece of justice there.” And she’s talking about something real.
When it comes to fatal shootings, for example, under 2% of officers are prosecuted for murder. Cops kill over 1,000 people per year. Unlike Nichols’, most families don’t make it to virality or national news cycles. Even settlement recipients get $17,500 on average.
These loved ones, especially Black mothers like Wells, are thrust into activism, finding community with others wading through the same loss. What if justice for them, and police victims, didn’t come in pieces, but all at once?
Beyond more convictions for killer cops, that full picture is possible. We can eliminate qualified immunity. Reallocate police budgets toward reparations and social services. Invest in community violence prevention. And, most of all, center what victims, survivors, and their loved ones want as their justice. Transformation isn’t impossible. It’s our right.