On Feb. 3, the Young Democratic Socialists of America, in collaboration with the College Democrats, hosted a vigil for Tyre Nichols in Borchuck Plaza. The vigil was an opportunity for students to come together and peacefully reflect.
“We wanted to create a place where people could come to talk, but also come to learn and come to remember a young man with a really beautiful life and a lot of goals that had his life taken away from him too soon by what we believe are rogue police forces,” said Elijah Moore, co-chair of YDSA.
Tyre Nichols was a 29-year-old black man who was severely beaten by Memphis police officers in late January, and passed away in the hospital a few days later. A video of the scene has recently been circulating, drawing widespread attention to the matter. However, Tyre’s family has asked for protests to remain peaceful.
“On a very fundamental level, we really care about our community, and we really care about like, just the people around us, our friends, our family,” said Davíd Ramirez, chair of YDSA. “And Tyre was someone’s friend and family. I can’t imagine having that happen in our community. . . our job as an organization is to support that community, right? It’s to build trust for each other and to care for each other because we understand that the systems that are put in place are not going to take care of us.”
The vigil for Tyre was created as not only an act of paying respects, but an opportunity to spread awareness. YDSA chairs expressed a hope for the vigil to be a place to learn and vent frustrations, while maintaining a non-violent approach. All students, from any background, were welcome to join in on honoring Tyre’s life.
“We the people, the working class of this country, we’re the ones who move history forward. We’re the ones who progress things. We’re the ones who demand change and get the changes we want,” said Moore.
“There is a better world. We just need to fight for it,” added Ramirez.
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