Students speak on brutality after Nichols’ death

Tyre’s.”

XAVIER BOATNER campus editor xavier.boatner@my.tccd.edu

TCC students voice their opinions following the invasion of multiple Chinese spy balloons.

On Feb. 2, people across the nation caught wind of a then unfamiliar surveillance balloon floating high above the continental United States. According to the NYTimes, US officials confirmed the strange balloon to be part of a Chinese spying operation.

According to CBS News, the initial balloon was shot down on Feb. 4, which has caused tension to stir between the two countries. This has led many to reflect on the incident, and people have begun debating whether or not the frenzy surrounding the balloon’s capabilities or China’s intentions was blown out of proportion.

Some believe that China’s entire spy balloon operation was justified, while others feel China had no business sending unidentified objects into the United States, to begin with.

NW Campus student Robert Flores agreed with the former stance.

“I’ve seen the ‘chinese spy balloon’ all over my TikTok and Instagram,” he said. “I think that the worry is justified to an extent.”

Meanwhile, Connect Campus student Alfredo Martinez agreed with the latter stance.

“I definitely think that people’s anger was not justified,” he said. “It was all guided by mystery. Simply because it is unknown, it caused fear.”

Disagreements in regard to whether or not the panic was justified are plentiful, and seemingly quite divisive.

However, both students agree that, despite their differing opinions on whether or not the fear was warranted, speculation about the true intentions behind the balloon and the scope of its capabilities shouldn’t be a big source of concern.

“I honestly can’t say what its true intentions were. It could truly be a weather balloon that veered off course,” Flores said. “I doubt that it was a balloon meant to cause explosive or chemical damage to US citizens.”

Flores said he believes the balloon was built for a single purpose and that he didn’t see any reason to be worried by its appearance.

“The possibility of it being any more than a tool to get information is very slim,” Martinez said. “I personally did not think anything bad about the object. Again it was just a balloon over in the sky. The balloon itself was not dangerous. The intention of it was to just get information. There is no reason to be scared or fearful,” he said.

Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, died as a result of brute force and abuse by officers of the Memphis, Tennessee police department.

This occurred on Jan. 7, when he was stopped due to reckless driving. Immediately after the altercation he was brought to a nearby hospital where he died of his sustained injuries three days later.

The start of COVID-19 and the shutdown of the nation opened many people’s eyes into police brutality against Black people, and for SE student Yulitza Ruvalcaba it made her more aware.

“Since George Floyd, I definitely think people and also myself are more aware of police brutality, and it has become more well known since 2020,” Ruvalcaba said. “I wasn’t really aware prior to Floyd that police brutality was as bad as it was.”

In regards to police brutality, she believes that the only thing that would help these situations would be police reform. She expresses her feelings towards her safety being threatened.

“It’s very overwhelming, and it doesn’t make me feel safe. You’d think that in a country like America, these kinds of things wouldn’t happen,” she said. “But they happen almost everyday and it honestly makes it so that I’m scared to live and stay in this country.”

She feels as though the main thing that can help police brutality and these sorts of situations is police reform. The body cameras for Nichols’ case were released 20 days after his death whilst Floyd’s footage was released almost three months afterwards. With most of Nichols’ officers being Black and Floyd’s being mostly white and mixed race, Ruvalcaba believes it is for malicious intent.

To NE student Elizabeth Palpan, nothing has been done to solve or dissipate the issue of police brutality.

“Federally, no I don’t think anything has been done in regards to police brutality; it’s or gun violence in general,” she said. “Some cities’ solutions have voted to defund the police but the core of the issue is white supremacy and systemic racism.”

Palpan said that in her opinion the delaying of Floyd’s footage was because of the riots in combination with the COVID19 pandemic and that she feels overwhelmed by violence in the U.S.. SE student Tony Fernandez explains his perspective on action from the U.S. government.

“There are cops that have been working since a certain time where black people and other minorities weren’t accepted as we are now,” he said. “So the way they see us is different, which leads them to act the way they do.”

Fernandez understood that even if he isn’t affected directly, he can sympathize with the Black community.

“At first, I didn’t think it was related to race but I think Floyd’s footage wasn’t released earlier because they wanted to cover it up as long as they could,” she said.

“It makes me think that by releasing Tyre’s footage earlier they’re doing it in an attempt to pit black people against each other and I think that’s what’s going to start happening if we keep seeing more cases like

“It doesn’t affect me directly because I’m not the one being persecuted, but it is similar to ICE splitting families up for no reason,” he said.

“I think there’s a lot of hate in the world right now and just – be kind to people,” Ruvalcaba said. “You don’t know what another person’s going through, and it’s the time where we should be united, not tearing each other down.”

Regardless of how harmful or harmless the balloons are, there are still many people around the country that still aren’t convinced that China should’ve even sent any sort of spy equipment into the United States without any warning.

“I believe that the US is and was, well within its rights to defend its own airspace against an unknown and possible threat regardless of what its true intentions are,” Flores said. “If it were truly a weather balloon that was at risk of flying into foreign airspace, China should have taken the proper steps in communicating, before letting an unknown object float around foreign countries.”

The entire ordeal has split numerous people across the states. Some feel uneasy, and some feel indifferent.

The arrival of the spy balloon will likely result in a greater discussion breaking out in the future involving what other countries should and shouldn’t do with their technologies and operations.