In response to the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers, the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action and the Department of History and Global Studies collaborated to organize a forum on anti-Black police brutality and the dynamics of race and racism in America.

The forum took place on Feb.7, nearly one month after Nichols’ death.

Dr. Theodore Francis of the Department of History and Global Studies moderated the forum. Francis said the goals of the event were to stand in solidarity with the Nichols family, stand in solidarity with the Black community in the country, provide a safe space for Black students and members of the ACU and Abilene community, and reflect on race and racism in history and its connections to racism experienced by people of color today.

“Not of course to have the final word on it, but of course so that we can at least speak towards these things and speak out about these things and have a broader conversation about these things,” Francis said at the beginning of the forum.

Francis said the intention behind the event was to honestly confront the ways in which racism impacts people’s lives now and in the past.

“It’s not negativity to try and pull America down or pull the police down by putting a light on the murder of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd and countless others,” Francis said. “It is what it is. It happened. And until we look at it honestly, fully in the face… We can’t destroy something that we are unwilling to honestly confront.”

Themes of conversation revolved around the intersection of racism and faith, family and the media. Attendees, both Black and white, volunteered to share their feelings and personal responses to the death of Nichols, as well as their own experiences with police brutality and racism.

Dr. Jerry Taylor of the Department of Bible, Missions and Ministry, opened and closed the forum.

“I’m very grateful that we had this event,” Taylor said. “What Dr. Francis has led us in has been most urgently necessary.”

Other attendees of the forum expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to grieve Nichols’ death in community, and the need for continued honest conversations – and action – to assist in creating a world without discrimination.