With tears and calls for justice, hundreds of people said goodbye to the African American Tyre Nichols who had been beaten to death by US police officers. At the memorial service in Memphis on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris told family members, “We mourn with you and the people of our country mourn with you.”
Harris condemned the brutal beating of 29-year-old Nichols by five African-American police officers at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee. This was an “act of violence” by those who should actually ensure security.
The first black woman vice president in US history also called on Congress to pass her Democratic Party-initiated anti-police law reform, named after George Floyd, who was killed in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis in 2020. President “Joe Biden will sign it and we shouldn’t delay it,” Harris said. The bill has long failed in Congress due to opposition from conservative Republicans.
Nichols’ mother, for her part, tearfully appealed to Congress to finally act. Otherwise, MPs would be responsible for the next such death, RowVaughn Wells said. “Then the blood of the next child that dies is on their hands.” Nichols’ older sister Keyana Dixon said, “All I want is to have my little brother back.”
In his eulogy, well-known civil rights activist Al Sharpton also called for violent police officers to be held accountable. Relatives of victims of police violence also attended the ceremony with gospel songs and emotional speeches. Among them was Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd.
Police officers brutally beat up Nichols during an evening traffic stop in Memphis on January 7th. The 29-year-old died three days later in a hospital. Last week, five police officers fired after the incident were charged with second-degree murder. In Tennessee, this corresponds to an intermediate stage between murder and manslaughter. Like the victim, the five men, who belonged to a now-defunct special unit of the Memphis Police Department, are African American.
In the USA, deadly police violence against black people causes horror and outrage again and again. Latest alleged case: In Huntington Park, near Los Angeles, officers are said to have shot and killed a man with a double leg amputation. Videos posted online showed police officers pointing guns at Anthony Lowe over the past week. The 36-year-old gives up his wheelchair and flees on his stumps – then what is happening in the recordings becomes unclear. According to official information, later investigations revealed that two police officers shot Lowe about ten times and that he was killed.
The family of the deceased reported to the “Los Angeles Times” that Lowe had mental problems. At the same time, his mother Dorothy Lowe called for an investigation: “You killed my son who was sitting in a wheelchair without legs.” They demand “justice”. Police said they had been alerted to a knife attack by a man in a wheelchair. The suspect was in possession of a 30 centimeter long knife and “threatened” the officers.
