Kamala Harris And Families Of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor To Attend

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Vice President Kamala Harris and the families of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd—whose deaths at the hands of police sparked nationwide protests in 2020—will attend Tyre Nichols’ funeral in Memphis on Wednesday, five days after the release of graphic body-camera and surveillance video of his arrest sparked nationwide protests.

Rev. Al Sharpton speaks at a news conference at Mason Temple in Memphis ahead of Tyre Nichols’ … [+] funeral.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Harris, who in a statement last week called for an end to “the persistent issue of police misconduct and use of excessive force” and reportedly spoke to Nichols’ mother on the phone, is also expected to attend, according to a White House official, speaking to CNN.

President Joe Biden is not expected to be there, although White House aides Keisha Lance Bottoms and Tara Murray, as well as Biden’s senior advisor Mitch Landrieu and White House Director of African American Media Erica Loewe will travel to Memphis for the funeral.

Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd—who was killed by police in Minneapolis when an officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes after a store clerk accused him of using counterfeit money—as well as Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot when police raided her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, will also be there, multiple outlets reported.

Rev. Al Sharpton is set to deliver a eulogy at the funeral, which begins at 11:30 a.m., before Nichols’ family lays Nichols to rest.

Key Background

Five officers in the Memphis Police Department pulled over Nichols’ car on the night of January 7 for what they claimed was a routine traffic stop, although body camera and surveillance footage released last Friday revealed police used pepper spray and threw kicks and punches at Nichols as he lay on the ground. He died three days after the arrest. In the weeks that followed, all five officers involved were released from the police department, and charged with second-degree murder. The SCORPION unit they belonged to—a specialty unit tasked with addressing crime—was also disbanded, following questions as to why the specialty unit was involved in the first place. Another member of the Memphis Police Department was later relieved of duty, although his involvement in the arrest was not disclosed.

Tangent

Nichols’ death also sparked protests in Memphis, New York City and Los Angeles, and prompted lawmakers to renew a push for law enforcement reforms—although the reforms face opposition in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Speaking at the Mason Temple in Memphis this week, where Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 delivered his famous “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech, Sharpton pledged to “continue in Tyre’s name to head up to Martin’s mountaintop,” saying, “there’s nothing that you can say that can explain what we saw on that videotape.”

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