NORTH BERGEN, NJ – (February 1, 2023) The leader of the Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Committee of the International Longshoremen’s Association said the death of Tyre Nichols, allegedly at the hands of Memphis , Tennessee police, demonstrates the need for the United States to redouble its effort at guaranteeing basic human rights for all its citizens.
“Our nation is nearly 60 years removed from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Famous March on Washington when a quarter of a million people marched in Washington for freedom and equity, and yet we still must confront ugly examples of Civil Rights abuses some six decades later,” said Herbie Hall, Chair of the ILA’s Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Committee. “On January 7th, Memphis was hardly that ‘shining city on the hill’ as Dr. King envisioned, but rather the location where Tyre Nichols was beaten to death, following a supposedly routine traffic stop. It tragically turned out to be anything but routine. As evidenced by the Memphis police officers own body cameras, the entire nation viewed with horror another innocent Black man losing his life senselessly and tragically.
“Tyre’s family and friend’s anguished was made worse by his dying calls for his Mom,” said the ILA Civil Rights Chair.
Brother Hall, who is also an ILA International Vice President and Executive Council member and Business Agent of Local 1233, ILA, pledged that his union’s Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Committee will take up the challenge to ensure that Mr. Nichols’ death is not forgotten nor be in vain, and will, in fact, be the spark that lights a fiery and vigorous Civil Rights campaign.
“Our ILA Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Committee is more important now than ever before,” said Brother Hall. “I know our International President Harold Daggett and our entire ILA fully supports our work and mission.”
“Change must come across our nation to guarantee the rights of all, and the ILA will give voice and volume and muscle to that change,” concluded Brother Hall.
Let’s get it done