MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Rev. Al Sharpton and the family of Tyre Nichols joined faith leaders Tuesday in Memphis at Mason Temple, where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his final speech before he was killed, to continue calls for justice.
"We are here to establish and proclaim that we are going to continue to fight this fight around police brutality and killing until we get federal laws changed," Rev. Sharpton said. "What happened with Tyre is a disgrace to this country. There is no other way to describe what has happened in this situation."
He likened the actions of the officers involved to gang violence.
"People from around the world watched a videotape of a man, unarmed, unprovoked, being beat to death by officers of the law," Rev. Sharpton said. "We talk a lot about gang bangers in the street and what colors they wear. In Memphis, it looks like they wear the blue color and uniform."
Rev. Sharpton is set to deliver Nichols' eulogy at his funeral on Wednesday, according to his National Action Network (NAN).
"You thought that no one would respond. You thought no one would care. Well, tomorrow, the vice president of the United States is coming to his funeral and people are coming from all over the world," he said. "We are coming because we are all Tyre now."
Nichols' stepfather, Rodney Wells, made a brief statement.
"Keep fighting for justice for our son and my family," he said. "We got a long fight ahead of us and we got to stay strong for it. Justice for Tyre."
Jamal Dupree, Nichols' brother, also spoke.
"I'm going to just be honest. I've told my siblings since this happened, 'I hate Memphis, I hate coming here.' My little brother didn't deserve none of this, at all. But at the same time, my sisters and my brothers, they remind me, y'all really got my brother's back," Dupree said. "That was my guy and I'm really going to miss him. I really hate that I wasn't here."
Memphis NAACP President and mayoral candidate Van Turner called on lawmakers to act quickly to pass policing reform legislation.
"Duty to deescalate, duty to intervene, duty to render aid and a duty to be decent," Turner said, listing reforms he believed should be made to policing. "You don't have to be trained to be a decent human being. You don't have to go through police procedures to know if a man is sitting there slumping down that you got to render aid to him so that he can live."
Official Black Lives Matter Memphis organizer Amber Sherman described what she believed justice would look like in Tyre's case.
"Justice looks like every single officer and public personnel being fired and charged accordingly because they are all complicit in Tyre's murder in some way, even the white officers they're trying to protect. Justice looks like naming all officers and public personnel that were on scene and release the files of everyone involved. Justice looks like passing the Data Transparency Act in the city council and county commission, passing the ordinance to end the use of traffic enforcement by law enforcement through pretextual traffic stops and passing an ordinance to end the use of task forces in the City of Memphis," Sherman said.
Rev. Sharpton said he will have more to say at Nichols' funeral, which will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church.
Prior to his speech, Rev Sharpton's NAN released a statement calling for more to be done in Nichols' case.
"Cops should not be able to hide behind their badges after committing actions like this, safe in the knowledge that the system will protect them from the consequences of a heinous action like this," the statement reads, in part.
Nichols died three days after the traffic stop by Memphis Police on Jan. 7. Five Memphis Police officers were fired and later charged with murder in Nichols' death.
NAN's full statement can be read below:
"On January 7, police officers in Memphis stopped 29-year-old Tyre Nichols and brutally beat him. He died three days later.
"Five officers involved were subsequently fired and charged, and the department involved disbanded, with a sixth placed on leave. This is a necessary first step in delivering justice for Tyre and his family, although nothing will ever be enough to fill the void that his loss has left.
"But it is not enough. Firing and arrests are not convictions. Cops should not be able to hide behind their badges after committing actions like this, safe in the knowledge that the system will protect them from the consequences of a heinous action like this.
"We will not stop being angry, and – as we have done in the past with George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and others – we will stand by this family until justice is done.
"We are calling for accountability and action in this moment, and an end to the cycle of police brutality."