At the funeral of young African-American Tyree Nichols, preachers including Vice President Kamala Harris strongly criticized the police violence that resulted in the beating of a “beautiful soul” being robbed in an incident that shocked the US. At the ceremony, Kamala Harris sent harsh words to the police, who beat him while he screamed that he had done nothing and asked for help.
“Didn’t he have a right to safety?” the vice president asked, adding angrily, “This is a family that lost a son and a brother to acts of violence” perpetrated by “the people they were assigned to protect.”
The Reverend Al Sharpton, one of the most important figures in the civil rights movement, said in a eulogy at a Christian church on Mississippi Boulevard that he was particularly touched that the five policemen themselves were black.
He said, “In the city where (Martin Luther) King died, you beat a brother to death.” These doors.” The standing crowd applauded Reverend Sharpton.
And Tyree Nichols, 29, was arrested on January 7th by special forces in Memphis, in the southern United States, for a traffic violation, according to police. But he was beaten so incessantly that he became unrecognizable, according to his family, and he died three days later in the hospital. The five police officers involved were fired and charged with premeditated murder. Major networks in the country consistently posted poignant images of his arrest, prompting fears of tension among the authorities.
After a few agonizing minutes, one of Nichols’ relatives read a poem she had written about what he had said to the policemen who had beaten him: “I just want to go home.”
The funeral was attended by George Floyd’s brother, a 40-year-old black man whose death in 2020 at the knee of a white police officer led to massive demonstrations against racism.
In a sign of the White House’s attention to the issue, President Joe Biden himself spoke to Nichols’ parents last week.