Video of police beating shows how history casts a long shadow on the troubled streets of Memphis

Memphis may well be “the home of the blues” and a cultural capital, but it is also one of America’s most dangerous cities.

There is an average of one murder a day. In some poverty-ridden suburbs, gun crime, burglaries, and feuding gangs are part of everyday life.

Still, it was a bit of a surprise when the taxi driver who picked us up from the station immediately warned of danger lurking in the darkened streets of his own home town.

“Watch where you go – if you smell trouble, hightail it. That’s the golden rule,” he warned.

Wondering why he was so immediately forthright in his consideration of strangers, it emerged he had the proverbial distant cousin from somewhere in the Emerald Isle.

Few instances have brought home the brutality stalking a crime-ridden metropolis like Memphis as last week’s video of a black man fatally beaten by five police officers.

The fact they pummelled him about the head as he lay on the ground was beyond belief. But their cool, collective disassociation from the savage violence they almost casually inflicted was just as unfathomable.

Two of the policemen giving one another a fist bump for a job well done as he lay moaning in a pool of blood on the pavement challenges every tenet of humanity we have.

Their subsequent lack of urgency in getting their victim to hospital was further evidence of their nonchalance.

It seems Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old father and FedEx employee, was initially hauled over on suspicion of reckless driving.

He was stopped near his home and, perhaps fearing the worst, unsuccessfully tried to run away from the arresting officers.

The assault would never have come to light were it not accidentally picked up on nearby CCTV. Last week, it was shown on news bulletins around the world.

There is an irony in that the policemen involved were black, given the history of troubled race relations in the city.

It suggests officers, regardless of colour, consider themselves “at war” with suspected law breakers.

The day-to-day reality of gun violence, drug addiction, and a culture of criminality passed from father to son means sudden death or serious injury is an ongoing hazard in Memphis policing.

The policemen involved are now facing charges of murder, assault, and kidnapping.

But it’s unlikely to be the last act of wanton violence by the forces of law and order.

The eight-hour rail journey from New Orleans to Memphis carries you through what was a centre of the slave trade, where America’s colour divide took root more than two centuries ago.

New Orleans was a huge landing port for slave ships coming from Africa.

The train thunders northwards through the delta lands, the vast acreage where the forebears of many current Memphis residents toiled.

Many descendants of slaves who sought a better life in the big cities “up north” like Memphis have bettered their lot. But there are those who cannot shake off the new shackles of poverty and alienation. For them, the dream of breaking with the past dies in the reality of violent ghetto life.

During our stay in Memphis we sampled the music in Beale Street and its surrounds, savouring this mecca for all who love the blues and jazz.

Here, the vitality and exuberance of black American culture contrasts with the rage and danger on the other side of town.

Memphis is a city of extremes. The place where Martin Luther King was assassinated.

The place which nurtured a young Elvis Presley, who would change youth culture in the western world.

It was easy to imagine one of the saxophone players near our table had a great-great-great grandfather who came to the US on one of those New Orleans slave ships.

So the rhythm of history goes.