Protests erupted in cities across the country after body camera footage was released of five Tennessee police officers brutally assaulting driver Tire Nichols during a traffic stop.
Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, was pulled over earlier this month and arrested for alleged reckless driving. Body camera footage released Friday by officials shows Memphis police officers beaten and sprinkled with pepper Nichols as he lay on the ground during the Jan. 7 meeting. He suffered serious injuries from the attack and died three days later cardiac arrest and renal failure.
The release of videos depicting Nichol’s fatal beating led to public grief and uproar nationwide. Traffic in New York’s Times Square has reached Stop On Friday night, as people took to the streets to protest Nichols’ death, some chanted, “All cops are bastards.” In Boston, protesters carried a banner down the street singing, “Brick by brick, wall by wall, these racist systems fell.”
The five police officers involved in Nichols’ death were also arrested charged with second degree murder on Thursday. There were two to release out on bail and all five were fired from the Memphis Police Department. Department of Justice and the FBI he announced last week that they would investigate Nichols’ death.
At the beginning of this month, a photo Nichols in an “unrecognizable” condition in his hospital bed was released. one Interview with CnnNichols’ parents said seeing their son in the hospital in such dire condition reminded them of Emmitt Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was kidnapped and lynched in 1955. (Till’s body was put on display in an open casket at the request of his mother, who wanted people to see the brutality, injustice, and racism that led to her son’s death. This served as a catalyst for the civil rights movement.)
Police brutality and misconduct, the subject of protests for decades, gained widespread attention in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd, as protests spread around the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Do you know how much force it takes to hit someone with your bare hands, how much violence it takes, how much anger it takes, how much hatred it takes?” McKayla Wilkes, founder of the grassroots organization Schools Not Jails, SAPS while attending a rally in Washington, DC on Friday. “I think we need to break the system, shut it down and reinvent what it looks like for our communities to be truly safe.”
President Joe Biden called for peaceful protests in a statement released Thursday.
“As Americans suffer, the Justice Department continues its investigation and state authorities continue their work, I join Tire’s family in calling for peaceful protests,” Biden said. “Hate is understandable, but violence is never acceptable. Violence is destructive and against the law. It has no place in peaceful protests seeking justice.”
He added, “Public trust is the foundation of public safety, and there are still too many places in America today where the bonds of trust are broken or broken. Tire’s death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to its promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment and dignity for all.”
Most of the protests appeared peaceful in videos circulating online. However, in New York City, he was a protester pulled from the hood of a police car after kicking the windshield. According to NBC New York, three people were arrested for vandalizing a New York Police Department vehicle.
The 2020 Black Lives Matter protests were perceived by some as largely violent. But reports show that 93 percent of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 were peaceful. Some activists also point out that no one should dictate how people protest oppression.
“You can’t dictate to people how to protest and resist the violent state oppression we all face,” local organizer Bree Newsome Bass said in a Tweets.
Nichols’ mother started a GoFundMe campaign on Friday. More rallies and marches are expected to continue Saturday night in cities across the United States, including Memphis, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and others.
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