(All images sourced via Twitter. Graphic image above released by family)

On January 7, 2023, five Black police officers from the Memphis Police Department severely beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, a Black man, during a traffic stop, resulting in his death three days later in the hospital. The five officers were fired on January 20, and on January 26, they were arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping, assault, and misconduct; two firefighters who were on the ambulance that took Nichols to the hospital were relieved of duty pending an investigation. On January 27, the Memphis Police Department released four clips of edited video showing events between 8:24 p.m. and 9:02 p.m.

In the wake of these events, Western States Center is calling on you to take action! Join us in taking the next five days to hear, see, honor, and count Tyre. Make this time matter.

Make no mistake, police brutality is a threat to democracy and the ability for all to live free from fear and bigotry. America has a choice. Let justice begin and end for Tyre Nichols in Memphis or commit to making justice for Tyre spread to every corner of America... and beyond. 

DAY ONE: “Mom! Mom! Mom!” 

The last words the world would hear from Tyre Nichols was him crying out for his mother.

American mothers, especially Black mothers, are tasked with the impossible: protect their children from entrenched, racist police brutality. Today, we hear Tyre, and we support mothers. Mothers Against Police Brutality, founded by mothers who lost children to police killings, recently took the issue to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

>> LISTEN: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Other America speech in which he asks, “...a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?”

>> READ: MAPB’s Analysis of the assault on Tyre Nichols

>> WATCH: Collette Flanagan, Founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality, testified before the United Nations Human Rights Council on “racial justice and equality in law enforcement.”

Learn more and support MAPB here.

DAY TWO: 22 Minutes 

The footage of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death is excruciating to watch. Many have said it is too horrifying to watch. His family has said he was beaten so badly he was unrecognizable. We know, though, that we can’t look away. Because beating someone with a baton, shooting them with a stun gun, pepper spraying them, and kicking them repeatedly in the head and body is NOT restraint or punishment. It’s lynching. It took 22 minutes before anyone gave Tyre aid. Today, the day Tyre will be put to rest, we resolve to not look away.  

>> UTILIZE: A Community Action Manual: Fighting Police Abuse

>> READ: Lynching in America from Equal Justice Initiative

>> TAKE: 22 minutes to reflect and mourn another life taken by police brutality.  

DAY THREE: A Free Spirit 

A composite of Tyre Nichols, the person, not the victim, has emerged. He was a photographer, a skateboarder, a father, a son, an artist. His friends remembered him as a free spirit. On his photography website, he wrote, “My vision is to bring my viewers deep into what I am seeing through my eye and out through my lens.” Today, we honor Tyre by lifting up artists and culture makers. They are the holders of space where people are united across distance, time and real divides – a space where inclusive democracy thrives.  

WATCH >> Tyre Nichols 10' (YouTube)

VISIT >> Tyre Nichols Photography Website (Wix)

LEARN >> Musicians Inclusive Practice Toolkit (WSC)

LISTEN >> Western States Center Musicians Cohort Playlist (Spotify)

VIEW >> AMP Artists Gallery by Western States Center (Prezi)

DAY FOUR: Count Tyre 

If you believe that Black lives matter, support the vision of the Movement for Black Lives to end the war on Black people. Respect the Black leaders who have lived this reality their whole lives. And count Tyre among the too many who’ve been taken by racial terror: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, and so many others.  

READ >> By targeting the pillars that uphold police violence, Black Lives Matter is shifting power to the people (Waging Nonviolence)

LISTEN >> Gangstagrass - Freedom (Official Video) (YouTube)

LEARN >> The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S. (Smithsonian)

LEARN >> #SayTheirNames (Interactive/sayevery.name)

WATCH >> Black Lives Matter explained (BBC/YouTube)

DAY FIVE: Make it Matter  

Organizing for change from within the U.S. is essential, but what if the U.S. can’t properly address police brutality on its own?

If this was any other country in the world we would be calling for international accountability. George Floyd’s brother pleaded for help from the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2020, testifying, “I am my brother’s keeper. You in the United Nations are your brothers’ and sisters’ keepers in America, and you have the power to help us get justice for my brother George Floyd. I am asking you to help him. I am asking you to help me. I am asking you to help us. Black people in America.”

UN human rights experts have urgently called for the US to end police violence and address systemic racism and racial discrimination.

It’s time for the U.S. to answer not just to Black Americans for these crimes, but to the world. Today, we call on the United Nations to appoint a human rights Special Rapporteur to investigate present-day lynchings of Black Americans and organize towards a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on policing in America.

READ >> Why police brutality is an international human rights issue – Amnesty International

LEARN >> About the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination – www.westernstatescenter.org/cerd

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