“Someone good” whose life was taken prematurely by “an act of violence” by the police: At the funeral of Tire Nichols, a young African American man whose fatal beatings at the hands of black police officers shocked the United States, speakers including Vice President Kamala Harris protested against police violence.
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After a lengthy hug for Tire Nichols’ mother at the Memphis church where the tribute was being held, Kamala Harris had harsh words for officials, who thrashed him as he yelled that he had done nothing and for help shouted.
“Doesn’t he have the right to safety?” asked the vice president. “Here is a family who lost their son and brother after an act of violence” committed by “persons responsible for their protection” and “this act of violence was not intended to ensure public safety,” she pounded in front of the crowd.
Tire Nichols was “a good man, a beautiful soul, a son, a father, a brother, a friend, a man gone too soon,” said the Rev. J. Lawrence Turner at the opening of the service at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church.
“Today, as we celebrate Tyre’s life and comfort his family, we inform this nation that the rerun of this episode hashtagged black lives has been canceled and will not be renewed for a new season,” he began.
“We’re going to win eventually,” he said again.
A powerful symbol, a brother of George Floyd, a black man in his 40s whose death at the knee of a white police officer sparked massive anti-racism demonstrations in 2020, was present, as was Breonna Taylor’s mother.
This 26-year-old African American woman was shot dead by police in her Kentucky home in 2020 and became an icon of the Black Lives Matter movement.
And it was Reverend Al Sharpton, a figure in the civil rights struggle, who delivered the eulogy.
29-year-old Tire Nichols was arrested on January 7 by special forces officers in Memphis, southern United States, for a simple traffic violation, according to police.
However, he was beaten mercilessly to the point that his family said he was unrecognizable and died in hospital three days later.
Kamala Harris was invited to the funeral by RowVaughn Wells, Tire Nichols’ mother, and stepfather Rodney Wells.
As a sign of the attention the White House is giving to this matter, President Joe Biden himself spoke to Tyre Nichols’ parents last week to recognize “their courage and strength,” just hours before the video of his ordeal was released in the US hands of the police.
RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells were also invited by the parliamentary group that brought together African-American elected officials to attend Mr. Biden’s State of the Union address in Congress on Feb. 7 in Washington.
The intolerable images of the arrest and the beating by the agents inflicted the young man were broadcast without cuts by the country’s major networks, raising fears of a social conflagration among authorities.
The five police officers involved were fired and charged with murder. The “Scorpion Unit” to which they belonged, which was tasked with reducing illegal activity in sensitive neighborhoods by deploying more police there, was disbanded.
Three firefighters were fired in connection with the matter and two other police officers were suspended.
President Biden plans to host members of the caucus Thursday, which brings together African American lawmakers at the White House to “discuss police reform legislation and other shared priorities,” said Olivia Dalton, an executive branch spokeswoman.