'Boyz n The Hood' scene resurfaces after Tyre Nichols killing for an important reason

Outrage and protests over the killing of Tire Nichols sparked online debate about police brutality and race.

Over the weekend, protests broke out in cities across the US to call for justice for Nichols, a 29-year-old black man who died after being severely beaten by police during a traffic stop.

Many protests called for police reform or the defunding of the police, a familiar sentiment used in protests related to civilian killings over the past three years.

However, some suggested that because the five police officers accused of killing Nichols were black, this could not be another example of racially motivated police brutality.

But using a famous clip from the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, People explained that just because racially motivated police brutality is mostly known to white officers and black civilians, that doesn’t completely absolve black officers.

In the clip, Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr) and Ricky (Morris Chestnut) are pulled over by two LAPD officers where one Black officer (Jessie Lawerence Ferguson) illustrates racist and threatening behavior towards Tre.

“For people who say ‘but the cop who killed Tire Nichols is black, how is that racist?’ crowd, anti-blackness is cultural phenomenon shared across racial and ethnic backgrounds,” wrote Twitter user Exavier Pope. “John Singleton told you so 32 years ago.”

\u201cFor people who say that the police who killed Tire Nichols are black, how is that racist?\u201c crowd, anti-blackness is a cultural phenomenon shared across racial and ethnic backgrounds. John Singleton told you that 32 years ago

— \ud835\udc04\ud835\udc31\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2f\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b \ud835\udc0f\ud835\udc28\udc28\52935\ud835\ud835\ud835 )

“The way the Black cop pulled Tre and Ricky over just to bully and intimidate them is not fiction. It’s a lived reality for many Black Americans, regardless of the color of the cop,” Pope continued.

Other Twitter users jumped into the conversation to agree with Pope’s point.

“Internal racism is real!” Judi Love tweeted.

“They didn’t listen when Ice Cube said ‘Black Police showing out for the White cop!’,” wrote another Twitter user.

The video of the police officers beating Nichols was released to the public on Friday. It shows the five Memphis Police Department officers using pepper spray, a baton and their fists to beat the 29-year-old.

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