Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, fought back tears as she called for police reform during a heartbreaking tribute in front of thousands of people at her son’s funeral on Wednesday (Feb. 1) in Memphis, Tennessee.
“The only thing that’s keeping me going is that I truly believe that my son was sent here on assignment from God. And I guess now his assignment is done. He’s gone home,” Wells said.
“We need to take some action because there should be no other child that should suffer the way my son — and all the other parents here have lost their children — we need to get that bill passed,” she added. “Because if we don’t, that blood — the next child that dies, that blood is going to be on their hands.”
As previously reported by REVOLT, Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, three days after being brutally beaten by Memphis Police Department officers following a traffic stop.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and Vice President Kamala Harris both attended Nichols’ funeral, and both delivered speeches where they called on Congress to approve the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill drafted by Democrats that aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias. It was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in February of 2021.
“It was not in the interest of keeping the public safe, because one must ask, was not it in the interest of keeping the public safe that Tyre Nichols would be with us today? Was he not also entitled to the right to be safe? So when we talk about public safety, let us understand what it means in its truest form. Tyre Nichols should have been safe,” Harris said.
“We understand that there are concerns about public safety. We understand that there are needs that deal with crime. But you don’t fight crime by becoming criminals yourself. You don’t stand up to thugs in the street becoming thugs yourself. You don’t fight gangs by becoming five armed men against an unarmed man. That ain’t the police. That’s punks,” Sharpton said in his speech.