Nichols killing fuels local demands for police reform

Footage of the police killing of Tyre Nichols, after a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, was released Friday, Jan. 27. Nichols died from injuries sustained from being struck dozens of times over several minutes by former Memphis police officers after he was already restrained. 

The bodycam and overhead street surveillance footage show several officers striking Nichols’s head with a baton and kicking Nichols while he is held down on the ground. The five officers, who were all Black, have since been terminated and charged with second-degree murder over the killing of Nichols.

Several Minneapolis organizations reacted to the news over the weekend. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called the killing “brutal” and hosted a press conference with representatives from Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB), Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence (FSFAPV), and other local organizations.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR Minnesota, called the video of the killing “truly difficult to watch.”

“For America and here in Minnesota today we’re waking up to what we have always woken up to—sympathies, empty words, and nothing ever getting done to actually hold police accountable and to actually call out this existing license to kill and hunt Black people in this country unjustifiably,” Hussein said. 

“We keep coming back and asking people to just treat human beings like humans, but we know in this country there is always going to be a Black America and a White America where Black people are treated completely different, and that has to stop.” 

Johnathon McClellan, president of the Minnesota Justice Coalition, said DFL lawmakers did not have any of the Justice Coalition’s bills on their agenda despite having a trifecta in the state government. McClellan is hoping his team can convince lawmakers to support bills targeting police brutality.

Local civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong also condemned the killings: “It does not matter that the officers were Black, in that incident they were blue,” Armstrong said, referring to the “thin blue line,” a term that is often used to describe the position of law enforcement.

“That’s what we need to recognize—this is a 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.” 

Hussein, McClellan, and Armstrong all called on State leaders to utilize the Democrat trifecta to pass bills to protect Black Minnesotans and prevent police brutality.

Several Minneapolis City officials released statements. Minneapolis Office of Community Safety Commissioner Cedric Alexander said he was “shocked and horrified” by the killings, which he called an “embarrassment to the first responders who serve this nation with honor and dignity.” 

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara also released a statement condemning the killing. “The privilege to protect with courage and serve with compassion is sacred,” O’Hara said. “Violent abuses of authority, such as displayed in this incident, have absolutely no place in our profession.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released a statement on Twitter Friday evening calling the killing of Nichols “horrific and inhumane. We need every single officer in this country—including those serving in our city and state — to insist their colleagues actively prevent injustice and meet the standards of the oath they take,” Frey’s statement reads.

One protest Saturday night in Southeast Minneapolis was met by a large police response before it could start and was dispersed. On Sunday, around 100 protesters also gathered at the Governor’s Mansion calling for justice for Nichols and for Gov. Tim Walz to end qualified immunity for police in Minnesota, among other demands. 

Chris Juhn contributed to this story.