Vigil for Tyre Nichols
Saturday, February 11, at 3:00 PM
Hopkins Green
Rain Location: Randolph St. United Methodist Church
On Saturday, February 11, at 3:00 PM, CARE (Community Anti-Racism Effort) Rockbridge will hold a public vigil at Hopkins Green to honor the memory of Tyre Nichols, a young Black American who was murdered by law enforcement in Memphis, TN, the city where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
We call upon our community to join us, as almost 800 of you did in honor of Dr. King on January 16 at our 7th Annual MLK Community Parade, so that, in the words of Vice-President Harris at Mr. Nichols’ funeral, we can “Let the memory of Tyre shine a light on the path towards peace and justice.”
We call upon our law enforcement at all levels to condemn police violence, to have zero tolerance for brutality and toxic culture, and to never make the dangerous assumption, “it could never happen here.”
We call upon our elected representatives in Congress to support Vice-President Harris, who has vowed to renew the fight to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and bring reform, accountability, and resources where needed in a national effort.
Finally, we call upon our elected officials at all other levels to support and fund initiatives that identify and exorcise the deeply ingrained systemic racism from our laws, schools, and communities so that Black Americans and people of color are not treated as less than fully equal and deserving of the liberties promised to us all.
We will neither forget Tyre Nichols, nor let him be forgotten.
May justice be served,
Rev. Reginald A. Early
President, CARE Rockbridge
