To honor the memory of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after being beaten by police officers during a routine traffic stop in Memphis, approximately 100 protesters gathered at Palmer Square in Princeton on Sunday, January 9.
The rally took place two days after police footage was released showing five police officers brutally beating Tyre Nichols.
In the video made available to the public, Nichols can be heard crying out for his mother while officers continue to hold him down violently kicking and punching him while he is restrained. The beating lasted for roughly three minutes. Nichols died three days later succumbing to injuries obtained by the police.
Valerie Henry, a student at MCCC and member of Princeton Mutual Aid (PMA), an advocacy group in Princeton, New Jersey that provides community services to those in need, organized the peaceful protest.
Henry said she hoped to bring awareness to the injustice that led to Nichols’s death and wanted everyone to know the kind of person he was. The crowd gathered and listened as Henry shared details she learned about Nichols’ life.
Nichols was loved by his family and community members. He was a father to a four-year-old son. He worked at FedEx and loved photography and skateboarding.
“Tyre deserved to grow old. He did not deserve what happened to him. No one does,” Henry said.
After Henry spoke, the participants stood in a circle for three minutes of silence, each minute representing the time that Nichols was continuously beaten.
Once the moment of silence passed, individuals could be heard questioning how anyone could endure physical violence for three minutes while others remarked on how upsetting it is that similar situations keep happening over and over again. Pastor Reverend Lukata Mjumbe of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, agreed.
“I am tired of this,” he told the crowd gathered around the green.
He recounted how just a few years ago he was standing in the same spot speaking to the community about the death of George Floyd and how thousands of people marched throughout the country demanding justice for another heinous murder by police.
“Whether it be in Princeton, whether it be in Memphis Tennessee, whether it be in Trenton, New Jersey, I did not want to have to do this again,” Rev. Mjumbe said.
Rev. Mjumbe challenged everyone gathered to reflect on how different they are today compared to 2020 when they gathered for George Floyd.
“We have to begin with changing and transforming ourselves individually. That is how we will change the world,” he said.
After expressing his feelings of frustration and weariness in needing to protest “over and over again” for the same issues, Rev. Mjumbe declared that he would not be marching through Princeton. Instead, he told the crowd he would spend that time working on transforming himself to reflect the change he hopes to see in others.
Those participants who did choose to march formed a line led by Fatima Mughal, a member of PMA and speaker at the rally. Mughal explained to the crowd that her goal in leading the march was to create “a space for solidarity” where community members could come together to grieve and to honor the life of Tyre Nichols.
Once the march began, protesters walked down Nassau Street and through Princeton University campus chanting “Say his name! Tyre Nichols!” and “Black lives matter!” while carrying signs that read “Stop Police Brutality,” “Heading Home Shouldn’t Be Deadly,” and “Whose Child is Next?”
The chants and signs used in the march were reminiscent of the protests in 2020. Some participants even reused signs which displayed, through the frayed edges and bent corners, the same weariness that Pastor Mjumbe spoke of on the green.
The march concluded back at Palmer Square where Mughal spoke of the ongoing police brutality issues highlighted in 2020 saying, “Black people are more likely to have force used against them. The evidence is there.”
Mughal stressed the importance of using critical thinking to understand why this keeps happening in our country. She stated that having these protests bring people together so that they can discuss and “better understand how harmful and racist the system is.”
Mark Pepper, a member of the Princeton Chapter of the Peace Coalition, who attended the rally agreed with Mughal and said, “I’m appalled that this is still going on. We’re wasting resources on war and militarizing the police which leads to innocent people getting murdered.”
The protest was just one of many that have taken place around the country since the release of the Nichols videos but despite the sense of frustration and fatigue that was expressed by so many, Valerie Henry says she sees a bit of hope.
“The [Memphis] police were arrested quickly and little things like these local protests did that. It’s a small victory,” she said.
Earlier this week, all five officers involved in the arrest were fired and charged with second-degree murder, assault and kidnapping, and their special unit, SCORPION which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods was disbanded as a result of Nichols’s murder.
Henry further explained that the quick arrest of the five officers set a precedent for the future.
“We can’t stop now,” she said.
Photos: Julia Meriney
