MEMPHIS: Civil rights leaders, family and friends came together on Wednesday to bid farewell at a Memphis church tyre nicholsThe 29-year-old African American whose fatal police beating shocked the nation — and prompted urgent calls for reform.
“We mourn with you, and the people of our country mourn with you,” Vice President Kamala Harris told the young man’s family during a rousing service marred by gospel music and emotional speeches.
Anger is still boiling over the death of Nichols on January 10, three days after five black police officers beat and kicked him in a traffic stop — reigniting a national debate about brutality in law enforcement.
Calling on authorities to crack down on deadly “acts of violence”, Harris urged Congress to pass a stalled reform bill named after George Floyd, whose 2020 police killing ignited waves of unrest across the country and beyond Why?
Nichols’ mother, speaking through tears rowon wells Harris joined in calling on lawmakers to take action – veteran civil rights leader Al Sharpton praised his son.
“We need to take some action,” Wells said. “Because if we don’t, the next kid who dies – that blood is going to be on their hands.”
During the ceremony, Reverend J. In the words of Lawrence Turner, Nichols was remembered as “a beautiful soul, a son, a father, a brother, a friend, a human being, gone too soon”.
Mourners were shown photographs taken by the young man, who was a keen photographer, as well as clips of his skateboarding – another passion.
His older sister, Keena Dixon, said, “All I want is for my baby brother to come back.”
Another relative read a poem inspired by the traumatic footage of his fatal encounter with police, titled “I’m Just Trying to Go Home.”
In a sign of the far-reaching resonance of Nichols’ death, Harris was joined at the funeral by relatives of other black victims of police violence, including director Spike Lee, and Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd.
Also present was Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in 2020 in a failed raid on her Kentucky home.
Like Floyd, Taylor has since become a symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement demanding police reform and racial justice.
Nichols was arrested on January 7 in Memphis by members of a special police unit called the Scorpions for what police said was a traffic violation.
He was badly beaten, as recorded in body camera and security camera footage that sparked a national outcry when it was made public last week.
The five officers involved have been fired and are facing manslaughter charges. Two others, including three firefighters, have been suspended pending the investigation.
In his eulogy, Sharpton said the officers had betrayed the spirit of the movement led by Martin Luther King, who was shot in a racist attack in Memphis in 1968.
Sharpton said African Americans would never have been hired by the Memphis police without a campaign led by King.
“People had to march and go to jail and some people lost their lives just to open doors for you. And how dare you do that if the sacrifice was for nothing?”
He said, “You don’t fight crime by being a criminal yourself.” “You don’t stand up to the thugs in the street to be a thug yourself.”
Sharpton also argued that Nichols’ race was a factor in how the police treated him, saying that officers would not subject a white man to such a beating.
City data published by The New York Times showed that while black residents make up two-thirds of Memphis’ population, since 2016 they accounted for 86 percent of encounters in which police used force.
President Joe Biden also reached out to Nichols’ family ahead of the funeral, declaring himself “outraged and deeply saddened” by her death.
Like Harris, the president has renewed calls for police reform – which he is set to discuss with members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the White House on Thursday.
As Nichols’ funeral took place, a new uproar was being raised over a viewer video from Los Angeles that appears to show the moments before police officers shot a double amputee, an African American, because He ran onto his stumps.
The officers involved said they were responding to a report of an unprovoked stabbing by a man in a wheelchair.
“We mourn with you, and the people of our country mourn with you,” Vice President Kamala Harris told the young man’s family during a rousing service marred by gospel music and emotional speeches.
Anger is still boiling over the death of Nichols on January 10, three days after five black police officers beat and kicked him in a traffic stop — reigniting a national debate about brutality in law enforcement.
Calling on authorities to crack down on deadly “acts of violence”, Harris urged Congress to pass a stalled reform bill named after George Floyd, whose 2020 police killing ignited waves of unrest across the country and beyond Why?
Nichols’ mother, speaking through tears rowon wells Harris joined in calling on lawmakers to take action – veteran civil rights leader Al Sharpton praised his son.
“We need to take some action,” Wells said. “Because if we don’t, the next kid who dies – that blood is going to be on their hands.”
During the ceremony, Reverend J. In the words of Lawrence Turner, Nichols was remembered as “a beautiful soul, a son, a father, a brother, a friend, a human being, gone too soon”.
Mourners were shown photographs taken by the young man, who was a keen photographer, as well as clips of his skateboarding – another passion.
His older sister, Keena Dixon, said, “All I want is for my baby brother to come back.”
Another relative read a poem inspired by the traumatic footage of his fatal encounter with police, titled “I’m Just Trying to Go Home.”
In a sign of the far-reaching resonance of Nichols’ death, Harris was joined at the funeral by relatives of other black victims of police violence, including director Spike Lee, and Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd.
Also present was Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in 2020 in a failed raid on her Kentucky home.
Like Floyd, Taylor has since become a symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement demanding police reform and racial justice.
Nichols was arrested on January 7 in Memphis by members of a special police unit called the Scorpions for what police said was a traffic violation.
He was badly beaten, as recorded in body camera and security camera footage that sparked a national outcry when it was made public last week.
The five officers involved have been fired and are facing manslaughter charges. Two others, including three firefighters, have been suspended pending the investigation.
In his eulogy, Sharpton said the officers had betrayed the spirit of the movement led by Martin Luther King, who was shot in a racist attack in Memphis in 1968.
Sharpton said African Americans would never have been hired by the Memphis police without a campaign led by King.
“People had to march and go to jail and some people lost their lives just to open doors for you. And how dare you do that if the sacrifice was for nothing?”
He said, “You don’t fight crime by being a criminal yourself.” “You don’t stand up to the thugs in the street to be a thug yourself.”
Sharpton also argued that Nichols’ race was a factor in how the police treated him, saying that officers would not subject a white man to such a beating.
City data published by The New York Times showed that while black residents make up two-thirds of Memphis’ population, since 2016 they accounted for 86 percent of encounters in which police used force.
President Joe Biden also reached out to Nichols’ family ahead of the funeral, declaring himself “outraged and deeply saddened” by her death.
Like Harris, the president has renewed calls for police reform – which he is set to discuss with members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the White House on Thursday.
As Nichols’ funeral took place, a new uproar was being raised over a viewer video from Los Angeles that appears to show the moments before police officers shot a double amputee, an African American, because He ran onto his stumps.
The officers involved said they were responding to a report of an unprovoked stabbing by a man in a wheelchair.