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Funeral Of Tyre Nichols. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired February 01, 2023 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

REV. AL SHARPTON, DELIVERING EULOGY FOR TYRE NICHOLS: Nobody mentioned nothing about no girlfriend, nobody mentioned nothing about no man, they started beating and unarmed man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell them, Reverend. Tell them straight. Fix it. Tell them. Tell them straight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got you. We're right behind you. (Inaudible) ...

SHARPTON: 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.

If you read the story of Joseph, when his brothers threw him in the pit nobody came to help him like nobody came to help Tyre - waiting on ambulance service that didn't show up until it's too late.

What will happen to his Dream?

Well we'll just tell them something else happened, but we are going to throw him in the pit. But I come to Memphis today to tell you the same mistake Joseph's brothers made is the mistake you've made. You thought you threw Joseph in a pit, you thought you threw Dr. King's dream in a pit, but every time you throw something in a pit, God takes the pit and raises it up and changes the whole world.

Let me be clear: We understand there are concerns about public safety. We understand that there are needs to deal with crime, but you don't fight crime by becoming criminals yourself. You don't stand up to thugs in the street by 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.

Man said, "I didn't do nothing." You kept on going anyhow. Why do they go ahead? Because they feel that there is no accountability. They feel that we are going to get angry a day or two and then we'll go on to something else. But some of us do this every day, some of us believe the dream has to come true, some of us are going to fight until we make this legislation happen. I don't know when I don't know how, but we won't stop until we hold you accountable and change this system.

Why do we want to see the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed? Because then you have to think twice before you beat Tyre Nichols. You think twice before you shoot at someone unarmed. You think twice before you chokehold Eric Garner, you think twice before you put your knee on Eric Garner's - on George Floyd's neck.

[15:05:01]

Because if you don't have qualified immunity, your wife would be telling you before you leave home "behave yourself, because we could lose the house, we could lose the car. Behave yourself because our savings can be gone." You want to be a tough guy? Well let's get rid of qualified immunity and see if you learn the same manners you have on the white side of town, you'll have some manners on the black side of town.

"Well, Rev. Al, you don't understand, how are they going to keep crime down in the black community? And at the same time not be tough and rough?" Well, they do it the same way they do it on the white side of Memphis and keep the crime down without being rough and tough. How do you have the same department can keep crime down on one side of town without beating folks to death, but you can't do it on the other side of town unless you feel you can get away with it there? I can't speak for everyone in Memphis, I can't speak for everybody gathering, but for me I believe that if that man had been white you wouldn't have beaten him like that that night.

We're not asking for nothing special. We're asking to be treated equal and to be treated fair and just like they marched and boycotted and went to jail for nine years from the '55 Montgomery Bus Boycott to the '64 Civil Rights act, we are going to pay the same dues to get this George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

"Reverend, how long?" I don't know how long. They didn't know how long it would be when they boycotted in the '50s. It's not about a timetable, it's about we cannot continue to live under these double standards and these conditions. We don't care how long. But I can tell you one thing - those of you that keep voting against that bill, we're going to vote against you. We've got more numbers than the police unions.

I believe that God will do for us what we would do for ourselves - and even in the pit, Joseph never lost his faith. Joseph could have gave up, Joseph could have gave out, but in the pit he still believed in the God of his fathers, and even as I stand over the casket of this innocent young boy - this young man, 29 years old with a 4-year-old son that his mother and father and his siblings have to raise - I believe that God will take him - Tyre out of that pit and use him as a symbol for justice all over this country.

I believe that babies unborn will know about Tyre Nichols because we won't let his memory die. We're going to change this country because we refuse to keep living under the threat of the cops and the robbers.

What touched me - I was raised by a single mother, daddy left when I was 10, momma raised my sister and I on welfare and food stamps - what touched me is when I heard him calling for his mother. Just like George Floyd calling for his mother. Something you'd have to be a black man - that the only thing between you and disaster, was your mother - to understand what calling for your mother means.

[15:10:08]

Somewhere deep in my heart I understood Tyre, because the only thing that kept the kids from laughing at my banana sandwiches in school, because she couldn't afford to put meat there, but momma would make it all right for me. And he knew if he could just get mother they would quit beating on him and stomping on him.

All he wanted to do was get home. Now, home, Rev. Jamal Bryant, home is not just a place, home is not just a physical location, home is where you are at peace, home is where you don't have to keep your dukes up, home is where you're not vulnerable, home is where everything is alright. He said all I want to do is get home.

I come to Memphis to say the reason I keep going is all I'm trying to do is get home, I want to get where they can't treat me with a double standard, I'm trying to get home, I want to get where they can't call me names no more, I want to get home, I want to get where they can't shoot now and ask questions later, I'm trying to get home, every black in America stands up every day trying to get home.

Last night we went to Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ, and the Wells family and Tyre's sisters and brothers stood there where Martin Luther King gave his last speech. They didn't know that night it was his speech for the last time. I was told by those that worked with King, that raised me, and I've recounted it with Mrs. King, "I worked very closely with Martin III, we're going back to Washington August 26th, during his father's (inaudible) 60th anniversary, we're going to deal with Tyre and the rest of these issues.

And they told me that that day, April 3rd 1968, it was raining and storming. Dr. King said he didn't even feel like going to the rally, he had come to Memphis a week before to lead a march for the sanitation workers and some provocateurs got at the end of the march. You know there are still some around now - that's blacker than anybody else, that's more active than anybody else, that's more street than anybody else - they started a riot at the end of the march and the press said, "Oh Dr. King's day is over non-violence is dead."

So he came back to prove that he could march. If it wasn't for so- called militants, Dr. King never would have faced what he faced, that's why all of these people talking bad - that you and I don't know, don't have no background on - be careful of who jumps in movements, because they set serious folk up.

Dr. King came back and that day was raining and he said to Dr. Ralph Abernathy, "Ralph you go speak, I don't feel like going tonight." And they went on to the church and when they got there the church was full, in a storm, and Dr. Abernathy went into the payphone and he called back to the Lorraine Motel - a black owned motel - told them to put his call to room 306. Dr. King picked up the phone, he said, "Martin you need to come, there are thousands here, they didn't come to see me."

Dr King got in the car by himself and rode over the Mason Temple and he started speaking that night, and something came over him that night. He said that I don't fear any man, he said God has allowed me to go to the mountaintop and I've seen the promised land.

And that's the last speech he gave, right here in Memphis when he went to the mountaintop.

[15:15:00]

I believe when he looked over he could see a Barack Obama become president, I believe when he went to the mountaintop he could look over and see a Kamala Harris sitting as vice president, I believe when he looked over from the mountaintop he saw black police chiefs. He didn't expect you to disgrace him, he expected you to bring us on to the promised land.

That's why I'm still marching. Yes I've got books out, yes I've got a TV show, but I'm a mountain climber. I'm not going to stop till I get t to the top of the mountain - you can call me names on right wing television, I'm a mountain climber. I expect stumbles to come my way, I'm a mountain climber. You can disgrace me, you can discredit me, but I'm going to keep climbing, I'm going to climb until Tyre Nichols gets justice. I'm going to climb until Eric Garner gets justice, I'm going to climb until we change the laws.

We're mountain climbers, we're not day traders, we're mountain climbers. And if God before us is more than the whole world against us, he walks with me, he talks with me, he tells me that I'm his own, he's been food when I was hungry, water when I was thirsty, he's my rock, he's my rock, he's my rock, my sword and shield, my wheel in the middle of the wheel, yes, yes.

Let us have a call to action: Let us go forward to get justice. Let us all be mountain climbers. Don't stop till we get to the top.

Many years ago, there was a young boy killed at a boot camp in Florida. Those in charge killed this boy. There was a young lawyer that called me in New York asked me to come and stand for the students in Tallahassee, Florida. And I went down we led some marches.

After that, a couple of years later, he came to see me with a man. I just started PoliticsNation then and he wanted me to meet this man, this man sat in my office and told me that he want to beat the security guard had killed his son. I had not heard of the case.

But the man started crying, telling me about his son, Trayvon Martin. And as I looked at his tears and looked at this lawyer, I thought about how I never saw my father cry from me. And I said, if I can help I'll help, and we started the Trayvon Martin movement. We called a national march, I got some of the radio analysis to help us and we put 10,000 people in that little town in Florida.

The morning of that march, my mother died. And they thought I would not come and I started to turn around. But I said, no, my mother would have wanted me to stand up for Trayvon. And that lawyer and I have been locked shoulder to shoulder ever since. He known now all over the world as the attorney general for Black America. Why? Because he will fight for us when others won't.

Oh, they're going to call your names they're going to always give you another angle. The only way you know you are making any headway is if you have opposition. The only time I get concerned is when everybody's on my side. But when you all start calling me names, it gives me extra exercise in the morning.

[15:20:00]

Because I know that people don't react unless you act. You can't be an activist if you don't have some reactivists. I bring you to give us our call to action, the attorney general of Black America, Atty. Benjamin Crump.

BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR TYRE NICHOLS' FAMILY: You all give it for one of the greatest mountain climbers in America today, Rev. Al Sharpton, a mountain climber.

Thank you for being a mentor and just a person who always answers the bell. A lot of these families here, Rev. Al, you answer the bell for when many people wouldn't answer the bell. We know the big names that became hashtags, but for every George Floyd, for every Breonna Taylor, for every Ahmaud Arbery, there are a hundred other nameless black people being killed in America that nobody remembered, but you answered the bell, Rev. Al Sharpton, and I want to say thank you publicly.

To Pastor Turner, thank you for allowing us in your cathedral. To all other clergy, to Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, we thank you for coming. To Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who told RowVaughn and Rodney that not only is she going to reintroduce the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act right after the State of the Union address, but she is also going to have a Terry Nichols duty to intervene in that legislation, so thank you.

So Congressman (inaudible), we thank you for your great leadership here in Memphis, Tennessee and certainly to Mitch Landrieu. And I would be remiss, Rev. Al, if I didn't acknowledge yet again, the highest ranking African American woman in United States' history, the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, who did not think it robbery to take time out of her busy schedule to come and comfort this black mother who lost her child unjustly. Thank you, Madam Vice President. We will never forget this day.

And then I want to acknowledge some of the activists and the local activists here in Memphis, Tennessee, who were here before I even got here. I want you all to stand to be recognized because without you local activists, we would not have heard about Tyre Nichols.

I have the activists' names written down and I will take them in my conversation if you hand that to Rev. Al. And I want to thank some of the national activists who didn't think it robbery to come. I'll note Tamika Mallory and my son and also - thank you, Rev. Al, we got Casio Montez, we got Paula Barris (ph), we got Hannah Dempster (ph), we got Amber Sherman, we got LJ Abraham, we got Frank Gottie, we got Pam Moses, we wouldn't be here without you activists, so thank you. We would not be here.

[15:25:00]

A lot of times we always acknowledge the (inaudible), the high positions, but it's the people who own the ground on the front line like you taught me, Rev. Al, who make the difference. So, let me as constrained as I can give the call to action.

I do so on behalf of my co-counsels: Antonio Romanucci, Ernestine Doris (ph), Van Turner, the NAACP President, yes, local here Memphis. Attorney Chris O'Neill (ph), Attorney Natalie Jackson, Attorney Sue- Ann Robinson, our whole team, Karima Lee (ph), we are all in this together fighting for justice for you, RowVaughn, for you, Mr. Rodney, fighting for justice.

And so when we do the call to action, it really is a plea for justice. It is a plea for Tyre Nichols the son, it is a plea for justice for Tyre Nichols the brother, it is a plea for justice for Tyre Nichols the father, but most of all, it is a plea for justice for Tyre Nichols the human being - the human being.

And when we watch - we don't see the Memphis Police Department SCORPION Unit extend one ounce of humanity during that one hour and seven minute video. Ask your neighbor why couldn't they see their humanity in Tyre. Turn to your neighbor ask ask them that, why couldn't they see their humanity in Tyre. For his mama, turn to your neighbor again and ask them why can they see their humanity in Tyre. And then finally for his son, turn to your neighbor and ask why couldn't they see the humanity in Tyre.

Because we have to make sure they see us as human beings and once we acknowledge that we're human beings worthy of respect and justice, then we have the God given right to say I am a human being and I deserve justice. Not just any justice but equal justice and that's what we're going to get for Tyre Nichols, equal justice.

And Ms. RowVaughn, Rodney, Jamal, Michael, Kiana, to all his family, grandma, his son, I know we can't bring Tyre back. But in this call to action, we establish his legacy. And let's never let them forget Memphis because his legacy will be one of equal justice. It will be the blueprint going forward, because we have to remember that in less than 20 days, when it was five black police officers captured on a video engaging in excessive use of force when they were committing crimes on video that they were terminated, they were arrested and they were charged. And the Police Chief Davis and I have respect for her saying this, the Police Chief said that it was important that the community see us take swift action. They said it was important that we move swiftly towards justice.

[15:30:00]