Several attendees at the funeral of Tire Nichols, the African-American who died after a brutal police beating, condemned the institutional violence that took the life of “a good person (…) who left too soon.”

After showing her support for Nichols’ mother at the Memphis church where the tribute was held, US Vice President Kamala Harris criticized officers who beat him as he yelled for help. “He didn’t have the right to be sure?” Questioned the vice president.

“Here is a family that lost their son and brother in a violent act” perpetrated by “people in charge of protecting them,” and “this violent act was not intended to guarantee public safety,” he told those present.

Nichols was “a good person, a beautiful soul, a son, a father, a brother, a friend, a human being who left too early,” said the Rev. J. Lawrence Turner, at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. . Shortly afterward, a close associate of Nichols’s recited a poem about the words he said to the police officers who beat him: “I’m just trying to get home.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights advocate, was particularly upset by the fact that the five police officers involved are black. “In the city where (Martin Luther) King lost his life (…), you beat a brother to death,” he said. “There is nothing more insulting to those of us who fought to open the doors than for you to walk through them and act like the people we had to fight to get through those doors,” he mused.

The crowd that was present at the funeral gave him a standing ovation. The event was also attended by a brother of George Floyd, the black man who died in 2020 while being reduced by a white police officer and whose death sparked massive anti-racist demonstrations. There was also the mother of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American killed by police in her Kentucky apartment in 2020, who became an icon of the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

Nichols, 29, was arrested in Memphis on January 7 by members of a special police unit called the Scorpion. The police procedure was recorded in the cameras that are incorporated into the uniforms of the agents and in the public security cameras of the city. The videos show how the agents punched, kicked, and beat the young man with batons, tear gas, and a stun gun.

At no point is Nichols seen trying to attack the cops. He tries to run away and is caught. He died three days later. Five of the police officers involved – all black – have been fired and face murder charges.

After what happened, the Memphis police dismantled the Scorpion unit, created in November 2021 with the intention of reducing illegal activity in trouble spots. Two other officers were suspended as well as three firefighters.

Following Nichols’ death, there were demonstrations demanding drastic law enforcement reforms. The authorities fear that the protests will turn violent, as after the death of George Floyd, although for the moment the demonstrations have been peaceful.

Through tears, RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tire Nichols called for Congress to pass a police reform bill called George Floyd, which is currently stalled. “Because if we don’t, that blood, that of the next child to die, will stain their hands,” she pleaded.

The presence of Vice President Harris underscores the political impact of Nichols’ death. President Joe Biden himself declared himself “outraged and deeply hurt” by the images of the procedure and spoke with the Nichols family to salute “his courage and his strength”, hours before the publication of the images of the brutal arrest of he.

The president plans to meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the White House on Thursday to discuss legislation for police reform, according to a White House spokesman.

“President Biden is determined to do everything in his power (…) to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to expectations of fairness (…) and dignity for all,” he added.

This same Wednesday, the United States police were once again accused of using excessive force after the death in California of an African-American with both legs amputated during a police intervention due to a stabbing.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project