Tyre Nichols should be here, spending time with his children, riding his skateboard, and taking photos.
The Black 29-year-old’s life was taken away at the hands of his own people, five Black Memphis cops, who have since been fired. Tyre’s funeral was today (February 1), and his family wants justice.
Reverend Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy and condemned the five ex-cops who beat Tyre to death. Al Sharpton said:
“What happened to Tyre is so personal to me is that five Black men that wouldn’t have had a job in the police department, would not ever be thought of to be in an elite squad in the city that Dr. King lost his life, not far away from that balcony, you beat a brother to death.”
Yahoo points out, “the alleged crimes took place not far from the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered on April 4, 1968.” The reverend said it was a slap in the face that minorities were fighting against white supremacy, and the Black ex-cops disregarded that when they took Tyre’s life. He said:
“There’s nothing more insulting and offensive to those of us that fight to open doors that you walk through those doors and act like the folks we had to fight for to get you through them doors.” He continued,
“You didn’t get on the police department by yourself. The police chief didn’t get there by herself. People had to march and go to jail, and some lost their lives to open the doors for you, and how dare you act like that sacrifice was for nothing!”
Later in Al Sharpton’s speech, he called the five officers “punks.” He also admitted the streets need to be safer, but that doesn’t happen with violence. He said:
“We understand that there are concerns about public safety. We understand that there are needs to deal with crime, but you don’t fight crime by becoming criminals yourself. You don’t stand up to thugs in the street [by] becoming thugs yourself. You don’t fight gangs by becoming five armed men against an unarmed man. That ain’t the police, that’s punks.”
Tyre was initially pulled over for an alleged traffic violation. The cops brutally beat him on January 7, and he died three days later. The gruesome, graphic video was released last week, and officials say the killing was worse than Rodney King.
The disgraced cops are Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. They’re indicted for second-degree murder, aggravated assault, and two charges of aggravated kidnapping.
Our hearts and thoughts are with Tyre Nichols, and we’re hoping justice gets served.