Lawton NAACP chapter releases statement regarding Tyre Nichols’ death

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - Responses have been released from across the country in response to the beating and death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis.

Following the release of police bodycam video, the Lawton chapter of the NAACP released a statement as well on Friday, January 27.

In the press release, NAACP President, LTC (Ret) Sherene L. Williams reacted to the newly released footage. She stated the organization is disturbed by the footage due to the officers behavior.

“The local NAACP members and I are disturbed and troubled by the brutality and lack of inhumane treatment displayed on the footage released,” Williams said.

She continued on and said humans should not be subjected to such treatment. Later in the statement, Williams called for action to hold law enforcement officers accountable for their actions.

The full statement is below.

“The local NAACP members and I are disturbed and troubled by the brutality and lack of inhumane treatment displayed on the footage released. Not any person should ever be subjected to such violence, calling for their mother while being brutalized by police. The footage of this video is a reminder that in America, on any day of the week; a Black person can be brutally beaten to death, by those who are supposedly here to ‘serve and protect’ our communities. A traffic stop should not result in the brutal death of an unarmed man. How much more trauma and tragedy must the Black community experience in order to make real change? The police officers involved have been expeditiously charged, but that is far from enough to ensure justice for Tyre.

We need action that ensures no one must ever experience or witness this kind of violence at the hands of law enforcement ever again. Continued failure to ac,t holding police accountable has left Tyre’s blood and the blood of countless number of Black lives claimed by police violence on the hands of those who refuse to make the necessary changes in law enforcement. We cannot name all of the victims of police violence, but can name two of the most recent ones in Lawton, Oklahoma: Quadry Sanders and Zonterious Johnson. We cannot name a single law enforcement officer who have died in the process. Police officers must be held accountable for their unlawful acts of police brutality and culture.”