Emerald Snipes-Garner, the daughter of police brutality victim Eric Garner, slammed the Memphis Police Department for the way it released the footage of Tyre Nichols being beaten by five police officers.
Snipes-Garner appeared as a guest on NewsNation with anchor Chirs Cuomo and explained that she felt the police department held the video as if they were increasing suspension and then released it like it was a movie premiere.
“You held the video—why? Why couldn’t the family get their closure at the moment that they needed it? It had to be controlled by the system, like, ‘We’re going to hold it, and then we’re going to bring it out with the charges.’” She added that the police department “held it like the premiere of a movie that needed to be watched by the world.”
She concluded by stating it was a “public lynching.”
Snipes-Garner is one of Eric’s six children. On July 17, 2014, he was killed by former NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who placed Garner in a chokehold while arresting him. Snipes-Garner said she couldn’t watch her father’s murder footage until five years after it was released, which still traumatized her.
Instead of focusing on Nichols’ gruesome death, Snipes-Garner said the focus should be on his family.
“His family needs support,” she stated. “They need mental health support… bereavement support…emotional support…all of these things to fight this fight, to get through this trial. I would like to see mental health services provided for them at no cost. I would like to see people stepping up for them, and I would like to show some compassion from the media.”
She advised people to do whatever they could to restrain from watching the video. No one would want their family members remembered horrifically.
The producer and activist who lowered the confederate flag in front of the South Carolina Capitol building, Bree Newsome Bass, shared Snipes-Garner’s sentiments.
“The way they’ve spent days & hours emphasizing the violence of Tyre Nichols’ murder like it’s a countdown to a movie release tells you everything about the depravity of the system we live under,” Bass tweeted, ending her threat of tweets with, “Parading all these people out here in their clean, crisp uniforms like this whole thing isn’t stained in blood… Y’all might be performing for somebody,, but it ain’t God.”
The way they’ve spent days & hours emphasizing the violence of Tyre Nichols’ murder like it’s a countdown to a movie release tells you everything about the depravity of the system we live under.
— Bree Newsome Bass (@BreeNewsome) January 27, 2023
Parading all these people out here in their clean, crisp uniforms like this whole thing isn’t stained in blood… Y’all might be performing for somebody but it ain’t God.
— Bree Newsome Bass (@BreeNewsome) January 27, 2023
Videos of Nichols skateboarding have been surfacing the internet to divert attention toward the life he lived.
Tyre Nichols, 29, was a dad to a 4-year-old son. He loved to photograph sunsets and skateboard, a passion he’s had since he was a little boy.
If you want to share a video, share this one. It’s how his family wants him to be remembered. 🌅 pic.twitter.com/8T5q7gw6LK
— shafina (@shafinakhabani) January 27, 2023
Tyre Nichols giving a young girl a flower at a Sacramento skatepark 💛
His friend, Dezmond Sinclair, says this picture sums up Tyre. Always the 1st one to make you feel welcome, protected the kids, and was always hyping you up as you learned a new trick.
A beautiful soul 💜 pic.twitter.com/QqUfnFSsYP
— Mychal (@mychal3ts) January 29, 2023
