Rev. Earle Fisher:
That's beyond my pay grade.
I am hopeful and prayerful because of past patterns and practices from protesters. They have shown all manner of — we have shown all manner of poise and passion. And if there has ever been any escalation in past protests in Memphis, it was the police department that initiated it and escalated it.
So, I trust the poise and the passion of the people. And I have been trying to urge the citizens to look out for each other. So, if somebody is out there, and they see somebody doing something that's unbecoming, I would hope that they would intervene with the highest level of love and appreciation, not only for each other, but especially for the family of Tyre Nichols.
I also think is not the wisest thing to release a video that you know is going to be insightful and inflammatory on a Friday evening. I think there could have been some deeper discussion and dialogue about better ways to introduce that to the public.
So, again, we don't really know. I think those of us who have been on the ground for the last several years are going to be here for the long haul. And we are hoping for the best and still trying to prepare for the worst.
Lastly, I would say I think the air of the city has been impacted by the way mainstream media has couched the developments. I would have loved to see mainstream media outlets say stuff like, Memphis plans for a peaceful protest, as opposed to Memphis is on edge.
When they started reporting at the beginning of the week, I was looking around, because I felt like I missed something. That hadn't been what was in the air. That hadn't been what I had felt. That hadn't been what my colleagues had felt.
But now we have to brace for it and prepare for it. And so, again, we're preparing for the worst and praying for the best.
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