Amber Sherman is a member of the Official Black Lives Matter Memphis Chapter and Decarcerate Memphis. Sherman and other local activists have been at the forefront since the killing of Tyre Nichols, peacefully protesting and offering solutions to city leaders.
Sherman discusses the Memphis chapter, and what others can do to support Nichols’ family.
What are your organizations seeking from leaders and politicians in Memphis?
There are several demands that we have from the family and our community here that if passed, would give us tangible changes and reforms within the police system to end the use of potential traffic stops that cause this kind of violence and end the use of task force[s ]that are the main people who are doing these type of unchecked and unsupervised things within traffic stops. We want to keep uplifting those demands, but also hold people’s feet to the fire. The governor gave and elected officials have given out statements, but what are you going to do? The governor hasn’t come out to support the different initiatives that we have and the different demands we’re asking for. Most of the elected officials haven’t either, they’re coming up with their own thing instead of working on the ground with folks who are in connection with the family [and] lifting [their] demands.
What can others around the country do to help support the family and the local activists?
There’s so much that people can do. We have a national day of action coming up on Feb. 4, where folks can organize the action in their community to uplift our demands, but also continue to keep Tyre’s name uplifted. His family is going to be in Sacramento at a memorial burying him that day so we want to continue to uplift the need for action while they’re mourning their son continuously. You can go to www.justice4tyre.com and view different events that are happening in your city, and you can organize them on your own. It doesn’t have to be a protest or a march. It can be a prayer vigil, it can be a Black joy space or a healing space, it can be a press conference or just anything that people are doing to make sure that uplifting those demands are what’s most important.
How is Memphis handling this tragedy?
I think it’s difficult for anyone. I’m not desensitized to images like that, and trauma and police brutality. Anytime I hear [of] police brutality, it always affects me, as violence of any kind. I think that all of us at the core group are feeling the heaviness of it, but we’re able to use that to focus on what we need to do to continue to get justice for Tyre, and also take care of ourselves.
