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Feb. 3, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: On Saturday, Feb. 11, at 3 p.m., 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, Tenn., 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 Jan. 16 at our seventh 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.” In the event of inclement weather, the vigil will be held at Randolph Street United Methodist Church, 118 S. Randolph St.
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 the renewed 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.
THE REV. REGINALD A. EARLY President, CARE Rockbridge
