美国国家公共电台 NPR--People in Memphis differ on the path forward for the city's police department

People in Memphis differ on the path forward for the city's police department

Transcript¹

Memphis has taken steps to overhaul² its police department following Tyre Nichols' death. But the Tennessee city is grappling with how far to take those reforms as it confronts a high crime rate.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In Memphis, Tenn., the city council has taken the first steps toward reforming the police department, weeks after the police beating of Tyre Nichols.

UNIDENTIFIED CITY CLERK: That item passes.

INSKEEP: The measures that passed are designed to limit police traffic stops and toughen the consequences for excessive force. They earned near unanimous council support. But when it comes to longer term visions for the police in their city, people in Memphis have differing views. NPR's Adrian Florido spoke³ with some of them.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE⁴: The neighborhood where Ricky Floyd lives - Frayser in North Memphis - has struggled with violent crime for a long time. He drove me to the intersection⁵ where, in the fall of 2020, it almost claimed his life.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR DOOR CLOSING)

FLORIDO: Floyd had left the Christian⁶ church where he's lead pastor⁷ and noticed a car following his truck too closely. He moved over to let it pass.

So you stopped right here?

RICKY FLOYD: I stopped right here. And then they stopped right here. All of a sudden, I hear shots.

FLORIDO: Floyd had one of his employees in the passenger seat.

FLOYD: And I said, man, are they shooting? And then he says, yeah, yeah, get out of here. Get out of here. So I spin around and just began to take off flying.

FLORIDO: He quickly realized he'd been shot. The bullet passed through his left leg. He later learned the shooter had beef with his passenger. He was caught in the crossfire⁸ of senseless violence, the kind Floyd says has left many Memphians feeling unsafe in their city.

FLOYD: I, the pastor, have been carjacked in Memphis. I, the pastor, have been shot. There is no public safety in Memphis, Tenn.

FLORIDO: Memphis has one of the nation's highest violent crime rates, which the city has responded to with a big push to hire more police. It's also why the police chief created the specialized⁹ crime unit whose officers last month pulled over and brutally¹⁰ beat Tyre Nichols. Pastor Floyd was horrified¹¹ when he saw the video of that beating.

FLOYD: One word came to my mind, and that was, why?

FLORIDO: He knew the police would face backlash - justifiably¹² so. He himself has served on the civilian¹³ review board that investigates complaints of excessive force by police. And he's glad the officers have been charged with murder. But he also worried.

FLOYD: Here's my concern and my fear that at the sake of firing, arresting those officers who were totally out of order, we're going to declaw and detooth our police officers.

FLORIDO: Floyd thinks the police are critical to keeping crime in Memphis from getting even worse. Across town in South Memphis Ann Adams had a different response to the video because of something that had happened to her 23-year-old son just a few weeks earlier. The two of them were about to leave their house. He'd gone out first to warm up the car. When she stepped out, she saw a police officer approaching the car.

ANN ADAMS: My son's sitting there with his head down, playing his video game. And I look up and see this police officer, and I say, what's the problem? How may I help you? Immediately after I asked him, how can I help you, he retreated to his vehicle.

FLORIDO: Adams says the officer and his partner drove off without a word. It disturbed her. He'd been approaching her son in her car on her property, but she didn't dwell on it too much until a few weeks later when she saw the video of Tyre Nichols being dragged out of his car and beaten.

ADAMS: It took me back to that day because my thought was it could have been my child. Every time I think about Tyre, I think about that day.

FLORIDO: As a Black woman, anxiety about the police has always been a part of Adams' life, but she'd never been driven to protest the police. In fact, she used to be a correctional officer and is now an armed private security guard. When she saw the video of Tyre Nichols, though, something changed. The Memphis police, she decided¹⁴, needed to be severely¹⁵ reined¹⁶ in. And so for the first time in her life last week, she attended a city council meeting to demand that.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ADAMS: I was born Black...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Ms. Adams.

ADAMS: ...I will die Black...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Ms. Adams.

ADAMS: ...But I don't want to be murdered just because I am Black. And I don't want that fate for my son...

FLORIDO: When Councilman J.B. Smiley saw the video of Tyre Nichols being beaten, he knew the city council would have to act. Activists¹⁷ and residents like Ann Adams were demanding it.

J B SMILEY: We're at the peak of activism. We're at the peak of community engagement. And since it happened right here in Memphis, the community members are showing up.

FLORIDO: His question was, what kind of reforms should he pursue, and how aggressive could he be? Because, yes, activists and residents were showing up like never before to demand aggressive reforms, but he was also getting calls from people who shared the concerns of Pastor Ricky Floyd, who didn't want him to hamstring the police's ability to fight crime in their city.

SMILEY: It's the people who vote. Older, more seasoned Black people - what you will find out is they value the police. They believe police keeps them safe.

FLORIDO: As a son of Memphis, he knows that sentiment is widespread in his city.

SMILEY: There's the dilemma¹⁸ of being in this position. I have to be mindful of that, but I also have to be mindful of the people who live in East Memphis who just witness a young man be beat to death. Like, you have to think about these things and figure out what's the best solution.

FLORIDO: Smiley wasn't sure whether the council could legally ban the kind of specialized units whose officers beat Tyre Nichols, as many activists have been calling for. He's also not been talking about cutting the police department's budget, another demand.

(SOUNDBITE OF GAVEL KNOCKING)

FLORIDO: But he and his council allies did introduce six ordinances¹⁹ last week. One limits the police's ability to pull people over for routine traffic violations²⁰. Another bans the use of unmarked cop cars. A third would make public the names of officers who use excessive force. All the ordinances passed a key first vote, making it the biggest step Memphis has taken in recent history to reform its police department. Activists in the crowd were pleased.

L J ABRAHAM: We're making greater strides this time than we have in the past.

FLORIDO: L.J. Abraham is part of a collective of activists who drafted the demands upon which most of the ordinances were based.

ABRAHAM: We still have a long way to go. There are some other things that we're seeking, but I think this is a good start. I think it is a good way to let the city of Memphis know that we are very serious about reimagining and reimaging police here in Memphis.

FLORIDO: Before Tyre Nichols' beating, the kinds of reforms that passed last week would have been near-impossible to get approved. But the video of the beating, Abraham says, changed everything.

ABRAHAM: That was one of those knee-jerk moments where you have to respond. Like, there's no other choice. You don't have a choice in this. You just have to get out and do what needs to be done to make sure that it never happens again to another person in your city.

FLORIDO: Everyone agrees on that, she says. Even if not all Memphians agree about what should come next for the city's police force.

Adrian Florido, NPR News, Memphis.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

8 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

9 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

10 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

11 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

12 justifiably   

adv.无可非议地

参考例句：

• There General Walters would come aboard to greet me, justifiably beaming with pride at his arrangement. 在那儿沃尔特斯将军会登上飞机来接我，理所当然为他们的安排感到洋洋得意。 来自辞典例句
• The Chinese seemed justifiably proud of their economic achievements. 中国人似乎为他们的经济成就感到自豪，这是无可非议的。 来自互联网

13 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

16 reined   

勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理

参考例句：

• Then, all of a sudden, he reined up his tired horse. 这时，他突然把疲倦的马勒住了。
• The officer reined in his horse at a crossroads. 军官在十字路口勒住了马。

17 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

19 ordinances   

n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These points of view, however, had not been generally accepted in building ordinances. 然而，这些观点仍未普遍地为其他的建筑条例而接受。 来自辞典例句
• Great are Your mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your ordinances. 诗119:156耶和华阿、你的慈悲本为大．求你照你的典章将我救活。 来自互联网

20 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。