NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Across Tennessee, many are still grieving the loss of 29 year old Tyre Nichols.
His funeral was on Wednesday and activists’ groups around Middle Tennessee attended. The funeral was broadcasted, and there wasn’t a dry eye in sight when Tiffany Rachal took the mic at Tyre Nichols’s funeral in Memphis. She performed a tribute at the beginning of the funeral for all the moms.
Rachal's son, Jalen Randle, was killed by a Houston, Texas, police officer.
"When she was singing you could hear her pain and her hurt in her song. That was amazing and touching," said Sheryl Huff, the vice president for the National Action Network of Middle Tennessee.
Rachal is in a club that no one wants to be in — a club that includes parents whose children were killed at the hands of police officers. RowVaughn Wells son, Tyre Nichols, is one of the latest victims.
Family, friends, civil rights leaders, and politicians all showed up to pay their respects, including Huff.
She’s tired of watching these deadly interactions happen between Black people and police.
“It was just gut-wrenching just to see pictures of him smiling and skating and on his skateboard,” said Huff.
Huff is a mother herself, so she sympathizes with the Nichols family. During the funeral, her eyes were glued to everything Tyre's mom was saying.
“There should be no other child that should suffer the way my son and all the other parents here who have lost their children,” explained Nichols' mom RowVaughn Wells.
Huff thinks it was also great Vice President Kamala Harris made an appearance and promised to get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act signed, but she's still waiting on Congress to pass it.
“They made that promise when George Floyd died, and it wasn’t signed. So, she made a promise that was already out there, but it was good to hear her. I enjoy hearing that. We have to get that bill signed,” said Huff.
She said they can’t keep letting police brutality happen. The five officers involved in the brutal beating of Nichols have been fired and charged with second-degree murder.
If the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passes, it would end certain police techniques, including chokeholds.
“Nichols was a good person. A beautiful soul. A son, father, brother, a friend, and a human being. He was gone too soon and denied his rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
