02:47USA: 'We are not going to stop until legislation is signed' - Al Sharpton following Tyre Nichols' funeral
Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton called on US lawmakers to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, following the funeral service for Tyre Nichols at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, in Tennessee on Wednesday.
All roads lead to legislation," said Sharpton. "We are not going to stop until legislation is signed."
"This is not the end of a funeral but the beginning of a movement around legislation. As Congress meets with the president on the national debt ceiling, we’re going to engage them on the debt of Black America," he continued.
Nichols died three days after his arrest in Memphis on January 7, for what the authorities claimed was reckless driving.
Bodycam footage of the incident, released by the Memphis Police Department, showed him being beaten by a group of officers. All five who, like Nichols, were Black, have been fired and charged with second-degree murder.
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump told the press briefing that the ethnicity of the officers was not the issue.
"It’s the culture, it’s the culture, it’s not whether the officer is Black, Hispanic or white, it’s the institutionalised police culture that says it is acceptable to engage in excessive use of force on Black and brown citizens," he said.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was originally drafted in 2021 to tackle police misconduct, racial bias and excessive use of force. It also reformed immunity for officers, which led to divisions in Congress and stalling of the bill in the Senate.
The proposed changes followed protests over the deaths of Black Americans such as George Floyd and others at the hands of mostly white police officers and civilians.
02:47Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton called on US lawmakers to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, following the funeral service for Tyre Nichols at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, in Tennessee on Wednesday.
All roads lead to legislation," said Sharpton. "We are not going to stop until legislation is signed."
"This is not the end of a funeral but the beginning of a movement around legislation. As Congress meets with the president on the national debt ceiling, we’re going to engage them on the debt of Black America," he continued.
Nichols died three days after his arrest in Memphis on January 7, for what the authorities claimed was reckless driving.
Bodycam footage of the incident, released by the Memphis Police Department, showed him being beaten by a group of officers. All five who, like Nichols, were Black, have been fired and charged with second-degree murder.
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump told the press briefing that the ethnicity of the officers was not the issue.
"It’s the culture, it’s the culture, it’s not whether the officer is Black, Hispanic or white, it’s the institutionalised police culture that says it is acceptable to engage in excessive use of force on Black and brown citizens," he said.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was originally drafted in 2021 to tackle police misconduct, racial bias and excessive use of force. It also reformed immunity for officers, which led to divisions in Congress and stalling of the bill in the Senate.
The proposed changes followed protests over the deaths of Black Americans such as George Floyd and others at the hands of mostly white police officers and civilians.