Ahead of the release of video footage documenting the police execution of Tyre Nichols, the authorities are deploying all the standard tactics in the counter-insurgency playbook:

—Delay the release of the video

—Appeal for calm while mobilizing the same police forces that carried out the killing to be prepared to carry out more violence on a massive scale

—Permit some family members and activists to view the video in order to enlist them as spokespeople demanding a certain kind of response and delegitimizing those who do not comply

—Spread fear about an invented identity ("outside agitators," "gang members," "antifa") in order to preemptively justify violent repression

—Fire the officers involved; if necessary, initiate legal proceedings (these can always be dropped later)

All this has become standard practice. This is how they hope to suppress unrest, even in the most egregious cases of police murder.

Even if they fire a few officers, they have no intention of diminishing the amount of violence that police employ, nor addressing the disparities that render that violence inevitable. This is obvious because they are focusing on managing the public response to police violence rather than seeking change.

If there is to be any change, it will have to come from us.

#AbolishthePolice