CNN's Don Lemon in an interview Friday with Memphis' police chief brought up the "race" of the "five black officers" charged with murdering Tyre Nichols, a black man, during a traffic stop earlier this month "in a black community."
Lemon said, "Five black officers, a black police chief in a black community ā what do you make of the race of the officers and what that says to the community and to the country about the policing, the care ā"
Chief Cerelyn āCJā Davis replied to Lemon that "race" isn't the reason for policing problems.
"It takes off the table that issues and problems in law enforcement is about race, and it is not," she responded. "It's about human dignity, integrity, accountability, and the duty to protect our community. And as this video will show you, it doesn't matter who's wearing the uniform, that we all have that same responsibility. So, it takes race off the table, but it does indicate to me that bias might be a factor also in the manner in which we engage the community."