Rev. Al Sharpton Chastises Memphis Cops at Tyre Nichols’ Funeral, In City of MLK’s Assassination

Police beating victim Tyre Nichols’ funeral took place on Wednesday in the same city where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

At Nichols’ funeral, there was no shortage of speakers who discussed the injustice of the young man dying at the hands of five Memphis police officers.

Rev. Al Sharpton, who read the eulogy, expressed an impassioned speech that chastised the Black cops who beat Nichols. Specifically for those police officers beating a Black man and ignoring the fight that Dr. King and other people who have fought for the civil rights of Black people had so that they can be in the position to become police officers.

Yahoo News covered the speech that Sharpton gave at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, where he stated that the beating of Nichols took place not far from the Lorraine Motel, where the civil rights leader King, had his life taken nearly 55 years ago on April 4, 1968.

“The reason why, Mr. and Mrs. Wells [Nichols’s stepfather and mother], what happened to Tyre is so personal to me is that five Black men that wouldn’t have had a job in the police department, would not ever be thought of to be in an elite squad in the city that Dr. King lost his life, not far away from that balcony, you beat a brother to death,” the MNSBC host said.

Sharpton spoke directly to the five Memphis police officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith, although they were not at the funeral service.

“In the city that they slayed the dreamer. What has happened to the dream? In the city where the dreamer lay down and shed his blood, you have the unmitigated gall to beat your brother, chase him down and beat him some more, call for backup and they take 20 minutes, and you watch him and you are too busy talking among each other, no empathy, no concern.”

Fox News reported that Sharpton also said that if Nichols was white, the officers’ actions that night would not have happened.

“I can’t speak for everybody in Memphis, I can’t speak for everybody gathering, but for me, I believe if that man had been White, you wouldn’t have beat him like that, that night.”

The five police officers have been terminated from the Memphis Police Department and indicted for second-degree murder, aggravated assault, and two charges of aggravated kidnapping.

You can watch the full eulogy below: