Anger and hope for change at Tyre Nichols funeral
- Published
Amidst the grief and sadness at Tyre Nichols' funeral there was also palpable anger over the savage way in which he was beaten by officers, along with passionate appeals for police reform and legislative change.
Vice-President Kamala Harris, speaking at the funeral, said it is now non-negotiable that Congress must pass the George Floyd policing act. The bill aims to increase police accountability.
The legislation has been stalled in Congress where it cannot get enough Republican votes to pass. But the death of Tyre Nichols has revived efforts to reach a bipartisan compromise. President Joe Biden has vowed to sign it, if it comes to his desk.
Many people I spoke to in Memphis told me they had not watched the harrowing police videos that show Mr Nichols being kicked, punched and hit with a baton while lying on the ground. They said they didn't need to watch the tapes to know how the police behave in their city. And few were surprised that it was black officers who killed Mr Nichols.
Mark Jackson brought a skateboard to the memorial to Mr Nichols
Amber Sherman has been campaigning for police reform in Memphis for years. She says black police officers are not immune from the institutionalised racism she sees in the police force.
"The system of policing is inherently white supremacist, racist and anti-black," she says. "And so the fact that someone who is black joins that system doesn't mean that they're going to remember that they're black, or they're going to put that first.
"They put being an officer first… And then what happens is black folks have these people attacking them regardless of looking like them."
I met Mark Jackson at the makeshift memorial that's been erected on the spot where Mr Nichols was killed. He'd brought a small red skateboard with Mr Nichols' name written across it to place beside the flowers and teddy bears already arranged around a white cross.
Signs outside Nichols' funeral call for more charges
He told me he fears that he or his 16-year-old son could be assaulted by the police at any time simply because they are black. And they don't feel any safer dealing with black officers.
"They would have never beat a white man like they beat Tyre," he told me.
"The perception is we have less value, we probably have less legal standing. And they probably felt they would get away with it."
Amber Sherman says black police can be racist too
After every tragic police killing there are the same calls for action and reform. Rarely does significant change occur.
Mr Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, is urging lawmakers to act this time, saying if they don't "the next child that dies - that blood is going to be on their hands".
She wants a new law that would compel police to intervene if their fellow officers are assaulting a suspect.
Rev Al Sharpton eulogised Mr Nichols on Wednesday
The veteran civil rights campaigner, the Rev Al Sharpton, delivered the eulogy for Tyre Nichols and led the demands for justice for him and the other unarmed black people who have died at the hands of the police.
I asked him if he really believes Mr Nichols' alleged murder will bring about the changes to the law.
"Change doesn't just drop out the sky," he told me.
"It comes from the ground up we got to keep fighting."
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- Published1 February 2023
