Minnesota families who have lost loved ones at the hands of police officers joined CAIR-Minnesota, Communities United Against Police Brutality, and other activists on Saturday to condemn the actions of five former Memphis police officers that led to the death of Tyre Nichols.
Michelle Gross with Communities United Against Police Brutality described the fatal beating as "outrageous" and stated the video shows Nichols complied, but still died.
"People want to believe that there is something you can do to prevent yourself from being killed in these situations," Gross said. "It appears Mr. Nichols did just about everything you could do to comply and yet it did not save him."
Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx worker and father, was stopped by police on January 7 allegedly for reckless driving, a charge that Davis said was unfounded to begin with. According to Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, the “amped up” officers were “very aggressive” from the moment they engaged Nichols and then “escalated from there.”
"Mr. Nichols was simply driving and he was just yards from his home when he was pulled over, yanked out of his car, and viciously beaten, tased, and attacked over and over and over again until he lost consciousness," added Gross. "These are the kinds of things that happen even when you comply."
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The group spoke on Saturday about the ongoing need to pass meaningful legislation focused on police reform at the state and federal level.
"I call on Governor Walz, the Senate leader, and the House leader to immediately pass legislation, to expedite it like the expedite other things, because we are tired of coming back and saying the clock is on for another human being to be murdered the way Tyre Nichols was murdered in this country," said CAIR-Minnesota executive director Jaylani Hussein.
Huessein called on Minnesotans and others across the United States who were outraged after the death of George Floyd take action.
"Shame on America, shame on Minnesota, and shame for the silence that has existed since George Floyd," he said. "For all of you who took your signs back and went back into your home, not realizing that Black people are in danger of a police system that is going to continue to kill."
The former officers, who are Black, have since been fired and charged in Nichols' death.
"It does not matter that the officers were Black," said Civil Rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong. "In that incident, they were blue. That's what we need to recognize. This is part of a blue culture that is anti-Black that does not hesitate to discriminate against Black people because they know that typically they will get away with it."